July 31, 2006 -- The Daily Yomiuri has reported that "Japan Post Corp., a holding company that will oversee four companies to be created through privatization of postal services in October 2007, revealed its basic business plan on Monday. The plan lists many business expansion projects, including those for the postal banking unit tentatively named Yucho Bank and the postal insurance unit tentatively called Kampo Life Insurance. In the plan, only Japan Post Corp.'s enthusiasm for new business projects sticks out rather than original purposes of postal privatization: streamlining of government enterprises and improving the efficiency of postal services." See also Mainichi Daily News. See also the Wall Street Journal.

July 31, 2006 -- The Associated Press has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service has abandoned a proposal to transfer mail processing operations from Rockford to a Chicago suburb, U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo announced Monday after a monthslong battle against the possible move."

July 31, 2006 -- According to The Times, "You almost certainly have come across them: envelopes with no name and no address, stuffed with invitations to have your house defiled by plastic double glazing or to buy a timeshare in Ibiza. It is the postal equivalent of spam: saved the expense of having to address the letters individually, the advertisers that send them can carpet-bomb vast areas with the stuff. There is a big difference, however, between spam and unaddressed junk mail. While the Government and internet providers have joined forces to clamp down on the former, ministers have shown no interest whatsoever in tackling the latter. Until now, the Royal Mail has imposed its own voluntary limit of three unaddressed items per household per week. But that has now been abandoned without a whimper of protest from ministers."

July 31, 2006 -- According to the Motley Fool, "The U.S. postal business seems to be passe -- but not for Stamps.com (Nasdaq: STMP). In fact, with its software tools for consumers and businesses, Stamps.com has put together a fast-growing enterprise. In the second quarter, Stamps.com posted a 42% increase in revenues, to $20.2 million. Net income nearly doubled to $4.2 million, or $0.17 per share. This includes a $696,000 charge for expensing stock options. Free cash flow was about $4.3 million in the second quarter, and the company has about $117 million in the bank."

July 31, 2006 -- PennySaverUSA.com, the Web site of the shopper publications of Harte-Hanks, has entered into a relationship with the Association of Free Community Newspapers (AFCP), a not-for-profit organization that represents more than 2,000 free-circulation community papers and shoppers reaching more than 45 million homes, that would designate PennySaverUSA.com as the association’s vendor of choice for Web services and online classifieds aggregation for its members. As part of the agreement, AFCP will market and support the PennySaverUSA.com Web site (http://www.pennysaverusa.com) where individual AFCP members can receive Web classified services and list their own classifieds online, laying the groundwork for a nationwide network of local classified advertising online.

July 31, 2006 -- BÖWE BELL + HOWELL has announced the availability of a new release of the company’s flexible document enhancement tool that enables customers to take best advantage of the capabilities of their mailing equipment and software solutions. TransFormer® release 8.1, part of the BÖWE One™ solution suite, adds new functionality to make it easier than ever for users to encode data for unique document identification, prepare files for dynamic finishing, and regenerate files as needed for closed-loop processing. For further information on BÖWE BELL + HOWELL, visit www.bowebellhowell.com.

July 31, 2006 -- The latest issue of the Universal Postal Union Direct Mail Advisory Board Update has been posted on this site. For readers of this Update, and for old ones who missed a few editions: past DMAB Updates are regularly posted on the UPU-DMAB website, in English and French. For the English ones, check http://www.upu.int/direct_mail/en/news.shtml.

July 31, 2006 -- According to Interfax, "China's Telecommunications Law and Postal Law are on the agenda to pass legislation by the end of 2006, recent legislation work report from China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) revealed."

July 31, 2006 -- The Financial Times has noted that "Logistics rivals shrug off UPS pessimism over economy."

July 31, 2006 -- TNT, the Dutch postal group, on Monday raised full-year guidance for its core mail and express units, and said it would complete the disposal of its contract logistics division in the current fiscal quarter. There had been speculation that the company would announce the sale on Monday, but people close to the process told the Financial Times that it still had “some way to run”.

July 31, 2006 -- According to the Daily Mail, "The biggest shake-up in Britain's postal service for more than 165 years has 'the makings of a mega-disaster', consumer groups will warn today. In just three weeks' time, new rules will affect the price of approximately one in five items sent in the post with a stamp. For the first time, people sending anything through the post will have to think about the size and thickness, not just the weight. But experts warned last night that hardly anybody knows about the radical shake-up which they believe is 'as big as decimalisation' in 1971."

July 31, 2006 -- NewKerala has noted that "India's postal network is the biggest in the world with one lakh fifty five thousand post offices, Union Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology Shakeel Ahmed said here today."

July 31, 2006 -- The Post.ie has reported that "The state is losing money by operating the Post Office Savings Bank (POSB), new figures show. The shortfall would have been higher if the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) had not frozen An Post’s management fee, which was unchanged on the previous year despite a 14 per cent increase in the bank’s deposit base. The NTMA is currently in talks with An Post to cut the amount it pays to the state postal operator each year.>

July 31, 2006 -- According to the Japan Times, "The bank and the insurance company to be created through postal privatization next year will try to expand their operations to match those of their private-sector rivals, informed sources have said. Japan Post will be split into four stock firms -- savings, insurance, mail and over-the-counter services -- on Oct. 1, 2007, under a holding company. Japan Post Corp., which will be turned into the holding firm."

July 31, 2006 -- Khaleej Times has reported that "Emirates Post is engaged in the construction of new post office buildings and customised buildings worth more than Dh190 million for its expanding business activities in the UAE. The new post offices with modern design and facilities will help Emirates Post use technology more efficiently to adopt global best practices in postal operations, said a top official of Emirates Post."

July 29, 2006 -- The Yakima Herald has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service has delayed a decision on cutting back its Yakima operations in light of congressional skepticism about the purported savings and effect on mail service, postal officials said Friday. Last week, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., included language in an appropriations bill that directs the postal service not to move outgoing mail operations from Yakima to Pasco until an independent review is conducted. The bill has not yet passed the full Senate or House, but Ernie Swanson, a spokesman for the postal service in Seattle, said it's likely to. "So we're holding off," he said. A decision has been delayed indefinitely, he added. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, has twice written postal service officials to express concern that the consolidation would cost Yakima its postmark and hurt service in rural areas."

July 29, 2006 -- The Associated Press has reported that "A contest between the Maine and New Hampshire-Vermont postal districts has netted $111,760 for breast cancer research. The two districts have been competing for two months to see which could sell the most breast cancer research stamps compared to total stamps sold. Six cents from the sale of each stamp goes toward research. Maine won the friendly competition, with breast cancer research stamps representing 4.2 percent of its stamp sales. The district for New Hampshire and Vermont had 3.8 percent."

July 29, 2006 -- The Wall Street Journal has reported that "The economic expansion downshifted in the second quarter amid fresh evidence that prices and wages are accelerating, a potentially noxious mix for a Federal Reserve trying to contain inflation without triggering a recession."

July 29, 2006 -- Les Echos has reported that "La Poste, the French post office, announced yesterday that the price of a stamp to send a letter weighing less than 20g within France will rise to the European average for domestic postage on October 1. At that point, it will cost 54 euro cents (up 1 euro cent on the current rate)."

July 29, 2006 -- The Charlotte Business Journal has reported that "Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP said Thursday that James Miller, former director of the Office of Management and Budget and former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, joined the firm's Washington office as a part-time senior adviser. A nationally recognized economist, Miller will focus primarily on commercial issues, including litigation, the firm said in a release. Miller is chairman of the board of governors of the U.S. Postal Service and serves on the boards of Washington Mutual Investors Fund, the Tax-Exempt Fund of Maryland, the Tax-Exempt Fund of Virginia, the J.P. Morgan Value Opportunities Fund, Independence Air and Clean Energy, the release said."

July 28, 2006 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• A new GAO report says the Postal Service does not measure and report its delivery performance for most types of mail, resulting in limited transparency with regard to its overall performance in timely mail delivery. GAO says the USPS must modernize its delivery standards, implement delivery performance measurements for major types of mail and improve the transparency of delivery performance standards, measures and results, noting “these outdated standards are unsuitable as benchmarks for setting realistic expectations for timely mail delivery, measuring delivery performance, or improving service, oversight and accountability.”
• PostCom met with GAO officials to discuss service standards and delivery performance measurements for newly-released GAO study. PostCom also followed up with a letter restating many of our members’ issues, objectives and concerns, a letter the agency used in its report.
• The Postal Service attached a very lengthy response – seven appendices along with its five-page letter – to the GAO’s new report on service standards and delivery performance measurements, considerably larger than the USPS’ typical opinion. Although PostCom urges members to read the Postal Service’s 54-page response in its entirety, we’ve included a brief summary synopsis of the familiar topics – such as the Transformation Plan and the Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations – and issues – visibility, modern service standards and the value equation between service and price – addressed by the USPS.
• In a series of articles, PostCom will provide highlights of the action in the R2006-1 rate case. This first article focuses on responses from the Postal Service to PostCom’s interrogatories. PostCom will provide periodic updates as the case proceeds. A recent status report on postal reform legislation by the National Association of Postal Supervisors is causing concern that UPS is trying to influence language on single-piece parcels in a yet-to-be-finalized bill in Congress.
• A recent status report on postal reform legislation by the National Association of Postal Supervisors is causing concern that UPS is trying to influence language on single-piece parcels in a yet-to-be-finalized bill in Congress.
• USPS’ Regan to lead UPU council. Postal Service seeks courier service for parts delivery. Lockheed Martin wins OCR contract. APWU launches ad campaign to counter USPS consolidation efforts. USPS information official faces accusations in Postal Inspection Service report. UPS profit outlook causes drop in U.S. stocks, fuels concern of slowing growth.Nine European postal services urge caution in EC push for postal market reform by 2009. Postal chiefs meet in Asia.

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July 28, 2006 -- The U.S. Postal Service has reported that "Drop shipment mailers can now take advantage of Facility Access and Shipment Tracking (FAST) system online training. The Web-based course offers convenience and real-time access to FAST training and resources. Those who have tested the training are enthusiastic about its ease-of-use and accessibility. Access the FAST training at https://fast.usps.com/fast/ (click “Resources” then "Reference Documents"). The course is organized by module; you may take the entire course or brush up on a single topic.

July 28, 2006 -- The latest copy of the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. electronic governmental affairs newsletter is available on the NAPUS web site.

July 28, 2006 -- According to Dow Jones, "The European Commission will propose postal deregulation by the end of the year and already has received a letter in protest from nine post offices, a commission official said Thursday. The Commission has been attempting to open national postal monopolies for much of the past decade."

July 28, 2006 -- According to IT Week, "Royal Mail is using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to monitor the flow of post, to identify problem areas and improve delivery services."

July 28, 2006 -- Union Network International has reported that "Nine European Postal Service Providers jointly call for caution in the 2009 reform of postal services Following the publication of the PWC study on the "Impact on Universal Service of the Full Market Accomplishment of the Postal Internal Market in 2009", the postal operators of Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Luxembourg, Poland and Spain, which account for over 50% of the Community population, express their concern about the study outcomes and plead the European Commission for a balanced approach when drawing up future postal legislation. The PWC survey states that the opening of the market will have a significant impact on the operator providing the universal service as well as on the universal postal service itself in most of the member states. This impact varies according to the particular situation in each country."

July 28, 2006 -- Air Cargo World has reported that "ABX Air, the largest of two U.S. freighter airlines in the DHL Express domestic network and operator of DHL's package sorting terminals, said DHL is releasing 21 of its planes in August. That move has long been a DHL option under its ABX contracts, and still leaves ABX as the largest U.S. leased fleet with 91 freighters committed to DHL's system."

July 28, 2006 -- From Business Wire: "ABX Air has announced that its subsidiary, ABX Cargo Services, has been awarded the contract to manage the U.S. Postal Service's terminal handling services at its Surface Transfer Center (STC) in Dallas, Texas. The contract calls for ABX to be compensated at a firm price for its fixed costs, plus an additional amount based on the volume of mail handled. Based on projected volumes, ABX Air anticipates that its revenues under the contract could total about $20 million during the four-year term of the contract. This contract provides for two, two-year extensions at the discretion of the U.S. Postal Service."

July 28, 2006 -- PCB007 has reported that "Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has been awarded a $17.4 million contract from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for optical character recognition technology to improve automated parcel sorting systems at USPS bulk mail centers. Lockheed Martin will install 38 optical character recognition (OCR) systems on secondary parcel sorting systems, known as Singulation Scan Induction Units (SSIU), at 19 bulk mail centers. OCR will offer an alternative method to sorting packages by reading the addresses on parcels instead of only analyzing barcodes. Currently, a significant percentage of parcels that enter a bulk mail center do not have barcodes and require manual processing. With OCR, the majority of parcels can be directly processed by SSIU, reducing the need for multi-processing operations and manual handling."

July 28, 2006 -- The Prague Post has reported that "In an effort to stay on the cutting edge of mobile communication, the national postal service, Česká pošta, has come up with a new service that will transform pictures sent through multimedia message service (MMS) technology into regular printed postcards. "Travelers or anyone else can send us pictures and text messages via MMS, an e-mail or by placing it on a Web portal (doschranky.cz), and Česká pošta will transform the picture into a regular postcard and deliver it," said Ivo Mravinac, spokesman for the company."

July 28, 2006 -- Liberal.ca has reported that "Liberal Critic for Crown Corporations John McKay was pleased today to learn that Canada Post has abandoned its plan to hike international shipping costs for non-paper items. “Canada Post’s decision to back down from its proposed rate increase is a victory for Canadian small business owners and consumers alike,” said Mr. McKay. “As a crown corporation, Canada Post has a responsibility to the Canadian taxpayer to provide efficient, cost-effective service, free of substantive hikes in service charges.”

July 27, 2006 -- The U.S. Government Accountability Office has issued a report that is very critical of the U.S. Postal Service. GAO said in part:

"USPS has delivery standards for its major types of mail, but some have not been updated in a number of years to reflect changes in how mail is prepared and delivered. These outdated standards are unsuitable as benchmarks for setting realistic expectations for timely mail delivery, measuring delivery performance, or improving service, oversight, and accountability. USPS plans corrective action to update some standards. Also, some delivery standards are not easily accessible, which impedes mailers from obtaining information to make informed decisions.

"USPS does not measure and report its delivery performance for most types of mail. Therefore, transparency with regard to its overall performance in timely mail delivery is limited. As shown in the table below, representative measures cover less than one-fifth of mail volume and do not include Standard Mail, bulk First-Class Mail, Periodicals, and most Package Services. Despite recent disclosures on its Web site, USPS’s reporting is more limited than the scope of measurement. Without sufficient transparency, it is difficult for USPS and its customers to identify and address delivery problems, and for Congress, the Postal Rate Commission, and others to hold management accountable for results and conduct independent oversight."

July 27, 2006 -- The BBC has reported that "The threat of the first national postal strike in a decade has been averted after a deal between the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU). An agreement was reached between the two groups to increase the basic pay of workers by 3.9%." See also The Independent and The Telegraph.

July 27, 2006 -- The Journal of Commerce has reported that "DHL Global Forwarding and Lufthansa Cargo announced that they have signed a strategic air-cargo security partnership agreement. The companies said the partnership will develop standard operating procedures that support customer and governmental security requirements. They said the procedures will improve safety for employees who handle high-value and high-risk products, and make DHL a more attractive forwarder for customers shipping high-value or sensitive goods."

July 27, 2006 -- The Communications Workers Union has reported that "The Union has now finalised an agreement with Royal Mail to progress the CWU vision. The Postal Executive met today and endorsed the agreement. Since last week, the Union has resolved the outstanding problem with the government funding. On the outstanding subject of government funding, new words have been agreed that remove Royal Mail’s insistence that every element of the agreement is subject to the funding. This has been replaced by a form of words that are consistent with the Union’s campaign to secure government investment and reflects the factual position."

July 27, 2006 -- The Kyodo News Service has reported that "The government is planning to order Japan Post in August to improve its business practices following irregular postal fee discounts that were identified in May to have caused a 2.7 billion yen loss."

July 27, 2006 -- As the Boston Globe has noted, "In Greater Boston, FedEx has recently begun asking many customers for a 15- to 60-minute head start -- since the Interstate 90 tunnel closings last week began snarling traffic headed to Logan International Airport . UPS has added an extra nightly flight out of Logan to its Louisville, Ky., sorting and shipping hub to accommodate late-arriving delivery vans. The United States Postal Service, which sends over 30 tractor-trailer loads of mail every day from its main Boston sorting facility behind South Station to Logan, is allocating an hour more travel time for trucks that now have to go over the Tobin Bridge and down through Revere to get to the airport, spokesman Bob Cannon said."

July 27, 2006 -- From PR Newswire: "R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company has launched OneSite(SM), a comprehensive web tool that offers customers the ability to see where their materials are throughout the mail stream -- instantaneously. The first product to combine post-production shipment tracking and United States Postal Service(R) (USPS(R)) network tracking into one synchronized report, OneSite provides a diverse new range of tracking and reporting tools designed to maximize opportunities for customers to capitalize on mailing campaign effectiveness."

July 27, 2006 -- The Indianapolis Star has reported that "Up to 350 Vigo County Schools employees might not have received paychecks last week because they were lost in the mail. The U.S. Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center in Terre Haute has taken responsibility for the problem, which occurred after Vigo County Schools delivered two bags of checks and direct-deposit notices. One of the bags was processed, but the other was lost."

July 27, 2006 -- AMEInfo has reported that "Dr. Badr Al Badr, General Manager of Cisco Systems Saudi Arabia, has signed an agreement with the Saudi Post Corporation (SPC), the sole postal service provider in KSA, to transform their network and communications infrastructure by deploying Cisco's LAN and WAN networking, Data Center, IP Telephony (Cisco Call Center), and Networking Security solutions."

July 27, 2006 -- Unstrung has noted that "Competing against major international shippers FedEx and UPS, Alameda, Calif.-based Golden State Overnight has had to concentrate on price and convenience to win customers. Offering lower shipping rates and later pickup times (as late as 9:00 p.m.) than its larger rivals, and concentrating exclusively on the business shipping market, Golden State delivers to every address in California plus Reno, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Tucson."

July 27, 2006 -- The APWU is taking its grassroots campaign against USPS “network realignment” to a new level by airing radio and television ads that warn of week-long delays in mail delivery. Broadcast advertising began July 26, with radio and television commercials running in Beaumont (TX), Bloomington (IN), Cumberland (MD), St. Petersburg (FL), and Yakima (WA), cities where APWU activists have already taken steps to inform citizens about the negative effect USPS network consolidation plans will have on mail service for individual postal customers and small businesses.

July 27, 2006 -- The latest issue of the National Association of Postal Supervisors Legislative Update has been posted on this site.

July 26, 2006 -- Easy Bourse has reported that "Dutch postal and express company TNT NV is close to selling its logistics division, several people familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday. Some of those people said private equity firms PAI Management and Apollo Management LP are on the shortlist for the unit."

July 26, 2006 -- SABCNews has reported that "More than 54 delegates of the Commonwealth Postal Nations are in South Africa, to discuss and review the role of the post office in the ever changing communications environment across the globe. High on the agenda will be issues of globalisation, future growth in the industry, and customer expectations. The South African post office services says it has already noticed a steady decline in the amount of post handled by local post offices, and that is one of the main issues that will be put up for discussion at the imbizo."

July 26, 2006 -- Logistics Management has noted that "Earlier this year, the United States Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors requested that the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) sign off on proposed increases for almost all of its domestic postage rates and fees, which would go into effect no sooner than May 2007. The cumulative average of the proposed increases is 8.5 percent. Rates for priority mail and express mail would rise 13.8 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively. Parcel post rates would increase 13.7 percent. If the commission approves those increases, the largest express carriers—FedEx, UPS, and DHL—could well use that to their advantage when developing their 2007 rate schedules, suggested Michael A. Regan, CEO of transportation-rate analysts TranzAct Technologies. "For the Big Three, the USPS rates can be viewed as the floor level [of pricing]," he says. "… If the floor rises 12 or 13 percent, they can raise their own rates by more than 4 percent."

July 26, 2006 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:

Britain's regulatory authority Postcomm is preparing for a comprehensive study concerning the future of Royal Mail, to be launched in the next three weeks. In an interview with the CEP News, the regulator's spokesman Chris Webb, denied allegations concerning plans to split the Royal Mail organisation.
Post Danmark has suffered a severe setback in the mail segment. One of its main direct mail customers, retail chain Coop, has cancelled its contract and is moving to competitors as of next year.
Switzerland's Schweizerische Post is taking over GHP-Gruppe, a direct marketing and customer management specialist based in Bamberg, Bavaria, at an "eight-figure" purchase price.
For the first time in Italian history, private individuals will be allowed to buy into the post company.
GLS Austria, the parcel subsidiary of Britain's Royal Mail, announced a cooperation with mineral oil firm OMV.
Norway's Posten Norge AS announced the acquisition of Blomquist Transport og Spedisjon AS in Larvik, Norway.
GeoPost, the express subsidiary of the French La Poste, is going for the sorting technology of Vanderlande Industries.

The MRU, founded in 1992, is the only consultancy in Europe, which has specialised in the market of courier-, express- and parcel services. For large-scale shippers and CEP-services in particular, the MRU provides interdisciplinary advice for all major questions of the market, as there are for example market entry, product design, organisation, and EDP.To learn more about the stories reported above, contact CEP News.

July 26, 2006 -- WSTM has reported that "The U-S Postal Service says some certified mail sent from parts of central New York was lost in last month's massive flooding."

July 26, 2006 -- The Aberdeen American News has reported that "Yet another review on postal efficiency in South Dakota is soon to be done and this time the public's voice should be heard."

July 26, 2006 -- According to the Federal Times, "When the U.S. Postal Service adopted new procurement rules last year in an effort to streamline contracting, some expressed the fear that — among other bad consequences — small businesses would find it harder to compete for Postal Service contracts. But the Postal Service says the amount of money going to small businesses, women-owned businesses and minority-owned businesses has not fallen at all and remains a healthy percentage of all agency dollars contracted."

July 26, 2006 -- The Norwich Evening News has reported that "A watchdog warned today that a new Royal Mail pricing structure for post could lead to huge queues at post offices at Christmas and other busy times."

July 26, 2006 -- According to the Financial Times, "During the internet bubble, logistics stocks were seen as one of the old economy's bigger winners. Somebody, after all, would have to deliver all those goods ordered online."

July 26, 2006 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "TNT Express has announced plans to install 14,000 extra ‘Mobile Worker’ communication units in delivery vehicles across its global network over the next two years following a successful trial period in the UK. The handheld units, which enable delivery drivers to send and receive delivery information in real-time through one scanner, are already operational in 25 countries and will be introduced to depots in countries including China, South Africa and Italy in Q2 and Q3 2006, and in an additional 17 countries by the end of 2008."

July 26, 2006 -- The Lawrence Journal World has reported that "Commissioners agreed to send a letter to U.S. Postal Service officials saying that they wouldn’t oppose the post office moving its distribution operations out of downtown. But commissioners did spell out in the letter that they think downtown should always have a full-service post office where people can send and receive mail and access post office boxes. Postal Service leaders have not yet committed — nor publicly indicated that they’re even willing — to move any portion of their downtown post office operations."

July 26, 2006 -- The Associated Press has reported that:

• Azeezaly Jaffer, the Postal Service's top public affairs spokesman, has left the agency under a cloud. Jaffer left his post unexpectedly June 30. He has declined to discuss his reasons for leaving or accusations against him. A Postal Inspection Service report dated June 19 includes accusations of Jaffer running up an excessive $8,252 hotel bill at a three-day event in Washington, of bypassing the Postal Service travel agency in order to obtain travel promotional benefits and spending extravagantly on meals and drinks. The report also included allegations of excessive drinking, using crass language in mixed company and commenting on the appearance of female co-workers.
• The Postal Service is replacing dozens of unconnected human resources systems nationwide with one that will allow its 700,000 employees to make benefit and payroll changes on a single Internet site.

July 26, 2006 -- SWBusiness.fi has reported that "BT has announced today that the company has won a contract from the German postal service (Deutsche Post AG) to implement and operate a nationwide data network. Under the terms of this contract, BT will ensure the smooth data exchange between 84 national and international mail distribution centres and the service department in Darmstadt. BT is to develop a “machine WAN” (Wide Area Network) for Deutsche Post, providing communication between the IT systems at the various locations, using state-of-the-art network technology based on the MPLS standard."

July 26, 2006 -- The Central Peace Signal asks readers to "Raise your hand if anyone understands Canada Post’s recent decisions about rural mail delivery. Rural residents from Fredericton, New Brunswick (NB) to Newmarket, Ontario (ON) have had their mail delivery moved from nearby mailboxes to community boxes or post offices miles away. These folks are not happy. Most of them have had home delivery for decades. Some cannot easily make the trip to the new location. Equally worrisome are how rural residents will face similar challenges in the coming winter months unless Canada Post and the federal Conservatives do what it takes to solve the rural delivery dilemma."

July 26, 2006 -- The Harare Herald has reported that "POSTAL service provider Zimpost will open three more branches this year as the company intensifies its expansion programme."

July 25, 2006 -- According to the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, "The Postal Service has done an excellent job shedding costs while maintaining service over the last five years. However, further cost cuts are becoming more difficult and signs of service slippage are appearing. It’s time to release the escrow funds, allowing some portion to be used to cover costs and shore up service. It is also time to do what every serious postal observer in Washington--except the Administration--has recognized should be done: return the military service obligation to the Treasury where it belongs. Mail service is too important to keep using mailer money as a slush fund for other government projects. It’s time to complete this critical unfinished business before the clock runs out."

July 25, 2006 -- GovExec.com has reported that "Language codifying the U.S. Postal Service's ability to offer negotiated service agreements to large-volume customers might be included in Congress's conference report when the bill to overhaul the agency is finally approved, mailing insiders say. In a recent meeting, White House advisers called on Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., to find ways for the agency to cut its labor costs, which account for 80 percent of its budget. Davis said he is still optimistic the bill will be sent to the president's desk by the end of the current legislative session. "We still have a ways to go," Davis said, "but it'll be out before October."

July 25, 2006 -- What? You're not worried about states taxing postage? Better think again. Posted on this site is an interesting piece on this topic by Melanie Hill.

July 25, 2006 -- According to Bloomberg, "U.S. stocks dropped after United Parcel Service Inc., the world's largest package-shipping company, forecast profit that fell short of analysts' estimates. The outlook fueled investor concern that economic growth is slowing amid record oil prices. Reports today on consumer confidence and existing home sales may support that view."

July 25, 2006 -- From the U.S. Postal Service: "USPS Director of International Postal Affairs Michael Regan will serve as chair of the Universal Postal Union’s (UPU) Postal Operations Council upon International Business VP Jim Wade’s retirement Aug. 3. Wade was elected council chair in 2004."

July 25, 2006 -- WWTI has reported that "Letter carriers across much of upstate New York will be doing double duty Tuesday as they collect food donations for people affected by last month's flooding. The emergency food collection is being conducted in 27 counties from the Finger Lakes region to the Massachusetts state line. U.S. Postal Service officials said residents are encouraged to leave nonperishable food items at or near their mailboxes."

July 25, 2006 -- UPS has reported a strong gain in consolidated revenue and a 10.2% improvement in earnings. per diluted share to $0.97. Global small package volume rose 6% or 841,000 additional packages each day."

 July 25, 2006 -- The Wall Street Journal has reported that:

Singapore Post Ltd. said its net profit rose 5% in the first quarter ended June 30, driven by 8.5% growth in revenue. Net profit rose to S$30.9 million (US$19.5 million) from S$29.5 million a year earlier, the postal-services company said."
A growing number of new magazine ventures are targeting aging baby boomers, their obsessions in the final third of their lives -- and their $2 trillion in annual spending power. Advertisers of everything from autos to electronics have traditionally preferred to link their brand images with younger consumers, and they reveled in baby boomers as children and teens in decades past. Now, with the oldest boomers turning 60 this year, the new ventures raise the inevitable question: Will marketers have any use for them when they're 64?

July 25, 2006 -- As the St. Petersburg Times has noted, "Automation has arrived for a coupon printer."

July 25, 2006 -- The Korea Herald has reported that "Senior executives from six postal administrations in the Asia-Pacific region will today wrap up their three-day meeting held at Seoul's Shilla Hotel. Participants of the fourth annual Kahala Posts Group CEO/BOD Joint Meetings discussed the current status and future prospects of "express mail services," or EMS, and the implementation of the Kahala Initiative."

July 25, 2006 -- According to the Chicago Tribune, "Since the early 1990s, the volume of credit card solicitations mailed to U.S. consumers has soared more than sixfold, with card companies last year sending out more than 6 billion offers, according to market-research firm Synovate. But the pitches have been losing effectiveness. Just three out of every 1,000 offers generated responses last year, down from about 28 per 1,000 in 1992."

July 25, 2006 -- According to the Journal News, "U.S. Postal Service authorities said yesterday that the error that caused a temporary embargo to be placed on mail to Israel and Lebanon was the result of a misinterpreted e-mail by an employee from the agency's regional office. Pat McGovern, a spokeswoman for the U.S Postal Service, said someone in the agency's West-chester district office erroneously sent out an e-mail after reading one that said the Beirut International Airport had closed after being badly bombed and that post offices in northern Israel had shut down after a state of emergency had been declared."

July 25, 2006 -- The Asia Pacific Mail & Express 2006 will be happening from 3rd – 5th October at the Grand Hyatt, Singapore.   This is Asia Pacific’s only mail event within the next 6 months, to bring together the postal organizations, express & logistics sectors to discuss issues like implementing ICT technologies to cut cost & increase efficiency, innovation, generation of new revenue, collaboration & privatization. An Early Bird promotion is currently on. If you register in the month of July, a 20% discount off the conference fees will be applicable.

July 25, 2006 -- The Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "Since the Daily News' July 5 story of political mailings mishandled at the new Southwest Philadelphia mail-processing center, bulk mailers and frustrated citizens have come forward with more horror stories of mail being delivered late or lost altogether. And postal workers say hundreds of job transfers due to automation at the new plant have created chaos there and at post offices throughout the region."

July 25, 2006 -- The Boston Herald has reported that "An envelope stuffed with 29 checks worth $90,000 erroneously arrived at the Herald Real Estate News Desk yesterday, despite being correctly addressed to “City of Boston Real Estate.” The checks cover property taxes due next week on 29 parcels owned by Newbury Street’s Mount Vernon Co., which rents out swish Back Bay and Beacon Hill apartments. A postmark on the package - which the Herald opened by mistake - indicates Mount Vernon sent the king’s ransom via standard first-class mail, paying $1.83 in postage. The postmark also shows the checks not only went to the wrong place, but took six days to travel 1.4 miles from Mount Vernon’s office to the Herald. U.S. Postal Service spokesman Bob Cannon blamed the mix-up on “human error."

July 25, 2006 -- The Independent has reported that "Radical plans to split the Royal Mail in two and reduce the volume of letters covered by its one-price-goes-anywhere guarantee are to be canvassed next month by the postal regulator. Postcomm is preparing to launch a strategic review of the organisation which will float a number of far-reaching ideas for increasing competition in the mail market. One idea is to separate Royal Mail's trunk network from its "last mile" delivery network of postmen and postwomen to make the business more transparent to rival operators."

July 25, 2006 -- According to USNews, "UPS is betting on tech to deliver a competitive edge."

July 25, 2006 -- The Accra Daily Mail has reported that "Africa's postal challenges will be examined and addressed at The Conference of Commonwealth Postal Administration (CCPA), which commenced today in Sun City, South Africa, and terminates on July 28. The yearly conference assesses recent developments in the Commonwealth's postal service administrations, and creates strategies to capitalize on successes and overcome inefficiencies."

July 24, 2006 -- The Kyodo News Service has reported that "A new bank to be created through Japan's postal privatization next year could book as much as 500 billion yen ($4.28 billion) in annual net profit in the early years after its establishment, Japan Post sources said Monday."

July 24, 2006 -- MSN Money has reported that "UPS is the world's biggest package-delivery company, transporting about 15 million items every day in the U.S. and abroad. FedEx Corp., which reported quarterly results last month, is its chief rival. Another competitor is the U.S. Postal Service, and analysts have said its plans to raise rates by 8.5 percent on average is good news for UPS and FedEx."

July 24, 2006 -- According to Government Computer News, "When the Postal Service launched an initiative to better maintain safety records for its industrial vehicles, the goal was modest—reduce the agency’s reporting burden. Well over a year later, though, the Powered Industrial Vehicle Management System has produced a significant number of benefits, not only automating the reporting process but improving safety and helping USPS better manage its industrial fleet."

July 24, 2006 -- From Business Wire:

• Peerflix, the leading peer-to-peer (P2P) network that allows members to legally trade DVDs online, today announced a relationship with the U.S. Postal Service allowing Peerflix members to track the shipping status of their DVDs online. Peerflix members, who trade DVDs directly with one another, will be notified each time a DVD is scanned at a U.S. Postal Service location as it travels to their home, in a pioneer application of U.S. Postal Service technology traditionally leveraged by large businesses. Taking the service one step further, Peerflix added visual tracking capabilities by building a Google Maps mash-up that allows users to follow the journey of their DVD against a map of the U.S.
• Busy summer schedules and rising fuel prices are impacting consumer behavior, positioning the home as the new hot destination for Summer 2006. A survey commissioned by Newgistics, Inc. and conducted by Harris Interactive(R) shows that home shopping is on the rise this summer, with more than a quarter (27 percent) of U.S. adults more likely to shop from home (online, catalog or TV) due to busy schedules and one in four adults (25 percent) more likely to shop from home due to rising gas prices. An overwhelming number of home shoppers (96 percent) agree that the ability to return merchandise from home is a critical factor when deciding where to make a purchase.

July 24, 2006 -- KVIA.com has reported that "The U-S Postal Service says it has fixed most of the problems with slow mail delivery in Las Cruces since a December report on the problem."

July 24, 2006 -- From the PR Newswire:

• Pitney Bowes Inc. today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the stock of Print, Inc. for approximately $47 million, net of cash and debt. Print, Inc. is a leader in a rapidly growing component of the print management market that provides bundled offerings of printer supplies, service and equipment to manage document production. These operations will be integrated into a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, and operate as part of its Pitney Bowes Direct group led by Neil Metviner, Executive Vice President and President Pitney Bowes Direct.
• PostX, the leader in the delivery of encrypted email communications for business and consumers, and CipherPass Corporation, an innovator of digital security solutions, announced today that the companies have partnered in a mutual OEM deal that will benefit the customers of both firms.

July 24, 2006 -- The Marin Independent Journal has reported that "The pickup time of many U.S. Postal Service mailboxes in Marin has changed to an earlier hour - to the discontent of some businesses that rely on later collection times."

July 24, 2006 -- The Journal News has reported that "Rep. Eliot Engel is demanding that regional postal officials lift what he called a ridiculous embargo on outgoing letters and packages headed to Israel and Lebanon."

July 24, 2006 -- According to The Tide, "The Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) may have embarked on the project of installing its International Postal System in order to easily detect drugs in shipments among other reasons. The acting Post-Master General of the Federation, Alhaji Mori Baba said the project when completed would also help in tracking and tracing letters as part of the measure in improving mail delivery service in the country."

July 24, 2006 -- The Yomiuri Shimbun has reported that "The second-largest union at Japan Post will propose this week a merger with the largest postal union after the privatization of Japan Post. The Japan Postal Workers' Union (JPU), the largest Japan Post union with about 130,000 members, is expected to accept the proposal from the 80,000-member All Japan Postal Labor Union (AJPLU).

July 23, 2006 -- The Rising Nepal has reported that "The Nepal Courier Service Association has urged the Government to amend the Postal Regulations so as to incorporate courier service in postal service, and make it quick, efficient and reliable."

July 22, 2006 -- In its latest Presiding Officer's Information Request (POIR No.2), the Postal Rate Commission is trying to ascertain from the Postal Service how it divined the rate design associated with Standard Mail in the R2006 rate case. (R2006-1)

July 22, 2006 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• A recent IDEAllliance survey turned up some important information about the Postal Service's proposed specifications for the 4-state barcode. The survey results suggest the printing industry might have difficulty conforming to the barcode at the current proposed specifications and reinforces the need for continued discussions between industry and the USPS.
• Federal Times reporter Dan Davidson takes a look at the U.S. Postal Service's pay-for-performance system, in effect for about three years. Increases average five percent under the new system, compared with four percent under the old. And both the National League of Postmasters and the National Association of Postmasters seem pleased with the program.
• American Postal Workers Union President William Burrus says the White House is pushing postal reform legislation issues that could increase worksharing discounts and harm postal workers by undermining their benefits.
• John Hegarty, national president of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, blasted the Bush Administration and large mailers for proposing amendments to postal reform legislation that "could cut employee wages and benefits and gut the collective bargaining process."
• In ongoing action, the president of the powerful American Postal Workers Union took aim at the Postal Service's proposed plans to outsource work at 43 air mail centers. APWU President William Burrus condemned the proposal, comparing it to the ‘Emery debacle' and citing security concerns.
• Postal reform not likely this year. [Guess again....] EPA, partners unveil unique hybrid delivery truck. Postal Service replacing outdated HR technology. Vogel to head Postal Service's new global business group. White paper shows ways to save on direct mail.
• Survey shows online bill-paying gaining ground in U.S.
• European firms call for full postal liberalization by 2009. Australian union battles over weighty issue.
• A list of upcoming postal-related events.

Hey! You've not been getting the weekly PostCom Bulletin--the best postal newsletter anywhere...bar none?  Send us by email your name, company, company title, postal and email address. Get a chance to see what you've been missing.
 

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July 22, 2006 -- The latest copy of the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. electronic governmental affairs newsletter is available on the NAPUS web site.

July 22, 2006 -- Posted on this site is the agenda for the August meeting of the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee.

July 22, 2006 -- The Edmunton Journal has reported that "Two Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachments and Canada Post announced Friday that they have formed a task force in an effort to reduce identity and mail theft in parts of British Columbia."

July 22, 2006 -- According to the Steamboat Pilot, "Recent changes in the way the Postal Service handles magazines and newspapers have caused delivery delays statewide, particularly to rural areas."

July 21, 2006 -- As NewIndPress has noted, if you're "looking for a CD of a rocking music album or want to buy a soap, tea or other such commodities. Well, walk to the nearest post office. Yes, you have heard it right! The post offices are fast evolving into one stop shops for all your requirements. From daily use items, amusement and entertainment to luxury items, all are now available at the post office counters."

July 21, 2006 -- AllAfrica.com has reported that "A FORMER head of NamPost, Hermanus Kasper, cost the parastatal millions of dollars when he cancelled a service delivery contract with the City of Windhoek - and then promptly emerged as a central figure in another company that tendered to take over the same sort of service, the postal company claims in a case it has instituted in the High Court."

July 21, 2006 -- As Fortune magazine has noted, "The town of Percile, northeast of Rome, has two groceries, a snack bar, and a tourist booth. Medieval houses climb a hill of overlapping archways and cobblestone footpaths. With only 260 residents, most of them retirees, the town hasn't attracted a newsstand, much less a supermarket or a bank. But it does have a post office. For Poste Italiane, outposts like the one in Percile are at once its greatest liability and its greatest asset. Postal companies are by nature spread thin, and the Italian state monopoly is no exception. With 150,000 employees and 14,000 offices, the company says its mail operations lose hundreds of millions of euros a year. But those same offices provide the backbone of a company that offers everything from investment plans to vacuum cleaners. By diversifying - by moving into logistics, financial services, and mail-order retail - Poste Italiane has turned its once unproductive infrastructure profitable. Last year mail accounted for less than a third of revenues, which grew 14% over 2004, to $19.5 billion."

July 21, 2006 -- Prime News has reported that "Georgia and Azerbaijan started a land postal communication within the frameworks of the bilateral protocol, the Trend news agency says, as quoting the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan."

July 21, 2006 -- The Japan Times has reported that "Japan Post is talking with East Japan Railway Co. about a plan to issue a cash card with the electronic money and prepaid train ticket functions of JR East's Suica smart card."

July 21, 2006 -- Transport Intelligence has noted that "UPS has confirmed it has started construction on its new integrated hub in Tamworth, UK. The new facility, which is expected to open October 2007, will be the largest UPS building in the UK and the second largest in Europe behind the UPS hub at the Cologne airport. With a planned capacity of 42,000 packages per hour, the new facility will bring a similar reach and efficiency to its domestic operations as its international operations. The building is part of a series of major investments that UPS has made in Europe in recent years."

July 21, 2006 -- The Associated Press has reported that "Alaska's bypass mail program has been identified as one of five major cost burdens to the U.S. Postal Service, according to an inspector general's report."

July 21, 2006 -- According to m-net, "The affect of New Zealand Post's recently-expanded post codes on organisations' databases will be significant, according to Auckland-based direct mail fulfilment company Mailshop. The post code changes will affect almost all organisations that have a database and mail from it. Potentially thousands of addresses contained in ERP and CRM systems across industry verticals including financial services, education and health will have to be amended to comply with the new codes."

July 21, 2006 -- The Independent has reported that "The £3bn government bailout of Royal Mail has been delayed until at least the autumn because ministers cannot decide whether to proceed with a sale of shares in the organisation to its 195,000 employees."

July 21, 2006 -- From Business Wire: "Bull today announced that it has acquired the former Firstlogic, Inc. postal automation software business, based in La Crosse, Wisconsin, from Business Objects Americas. Business Objects retains the former Firstlogic data quality business. In addition, Business Objects retains the former Firstlogic Commercial Mail division, which develops software to support direct and commercial mail printers, publishers and distributors."

July 20, 2006 -- The East Texas Weekly has reported that "For the past few years, my office has been warning Texas consumers to beware of counterfeit cashier's checks in connection with advance fee frauds, international lotteries, and scams against charities. Recently, in a troubling new twist, Texas financial institutions and consumers have been reporting the existence of high quality counterfeit U.S. Postal money orders that are being used to fool consumers into cashing them and wiring part of the money abroad. Perpetrators of advance fee frauds and similar sweepstakes schemes attempt to trick the victim into thinking a sweepstakes or lottery prize has been sent to them by wiring a phony cashier's check. Finding that consumers have caught on to the counterfeit check scam, scammers are now using phony U.S. Postal money orders instead of cashier's checks."

July 20, 2006 -- PostCom members! Posted on this site is a PostCom Issue Brief on the Postal Service's "Evolutionary Network Design (END)."

July 20, 2006 -- Computing News has reported that "Castle Computer Technologies has released Shipmate, a powerful Windows program that makes it easy to keep track of all packages from DHL, FEDEX, UPS and the US Postal Service. At a glance, you can get the status of each package."

July 20, 2006 -- AllAfrica.com has reported that "In a move to make the delivery of postal services more convenient, the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has established three exchange centres in the country for mail distribution to West African countries."

July 20, 2006 -- Highlights of the June 20th meeting of the Toronto Chapter of the National Association of Major Mail Users has been posted on this site. If you do business in Canada, you should making supporting NAMMU one of your priorities.

July 20, 2006 -- Supply Management has reported that "Royal Mail Group last week issued a tender notice for consultancy services to overhaul its £1.8 billion annual procurement spend."

July 20, 2006 -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unveiled the first-ever series hydraulic hybrid diesel urban delivery vehicle, which will provide dramatic improvements in fuel economy and in emission reductions. The development of the hydraulic hybrid is the result of a partnership between the EPA, U.S. Army, UPS, International Truck and Engine Corporation and Eaton Corporation. See more photos. The EPA and UPS plan to evaluate the vehicle's fuel economy performance and emissions during a series of tests in 2006. In laboratory testing, the EPA's patented hydraulic hybrid diesel technology achieved a 60 to 70 percent improvement in fuel economy and more than a 40 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, compared to a conventional UPS vehicle.

July 20, 2006 -- According to Energy Pulse, "In the face of the pending postal rate increase— coupled with slow adoption of electronic bill presentment and payment—utilities may feel that they are caught between a rock and a hard place; but there is hope. Smart utilities companies will find hidden value in their paper processes by looking more deeply at the value of printed statements and more closely at the reliability of the USPS. E-billing may someday provide significant cost advantages to billers, but until customer adoption is more fully developed it is wise to look at the many advantages of issuing statements and bills via P.O.P. – plain old paper."

July 20, 2006 -- The BBC has reported that "The government has postponed a decision on whether Royal Mail should be able to give a stake of up to 20% in the firm to its employees, the BBC has learned. It may be seen as partial victory for communication workers' union, the CWU."

July 20, 2006 -- From PR.com: "A new white paper entitled "Cutting Your Direct Mail Production Costs" is available to help direct marketers save money on their direct mail production as well as increase the effectiveness of their campaigns."

July 20, 2006 -- DM News has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service is seeing a 2.6 percent response rate from a direct mail campaign started in June to help direct mail marketers in their struggle to sell the concept to their constituents. Despite reaching out more to the marketplace in the past few years, the postal service has focused on ad agencies and advertisers in big companies, said Rod DeVar, USPS national manager of advertising and promotions. "We had stayed away from people in the direct marketing industry because we felt we needed to influence, change minds and create a presence in the mind of the advertiser and the agency about how direct mail could fit into their communications mix," he said."

July 20, 2006 -- Bobsguide has reported that "SunGard today announced that Australia Post, a government business enterprise (GBE) operating under the Australian Postal Corporation Act of 1989, has selected SunGard's AvantGard Integrity solution for its corporate treasury unit. AvantGard Integrity will be implemented at Australia Post's office in Melbourne, Victoria."

July 20, 2006 -- American Postal Workers Union President William Burrus told his members that "The outlook for passage of postal reform legislation in this session of Congress appears more uncertain than ever, largely as a result of the Bush administration's renewed insistence that anti-labor provisions be included. At a meeting last week attended by key congressional sponsors and White House officials, the administration made clear its demands for support of the legislation: The White House insists that the provisions allowing the unions to defer unresolved collective bargaining issues to binding arbitration be modified to require arbitrators to consider the economic health of the Postal Service in their final decision. An additional point of contention involves placing limits on the USPS' ability to adjust postage rates. At the urging of the large mailers, the administration is demanding that postage-rate increases — with very few exceptions — be limited by increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI)."

July 20, 2006 -- Multichannel Merchant has reported that "It's looking more and more likely that postal reform will not be enacted before Congress takes its summer recess next month—or even before the end of the year, when the 110th Congress adjourns. Ben Cooper, chairman of the lobbying group Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, says that with so little time left before the break, prospects to get reform enacted are bleak—at least in the short term. "I think dynamics ultimately favor the bill passing," says Cooper. "But it still will take some time." Cooper blames much of the delay in reform on "legislative inertia"—an inability of those in charge to fully commit to pushing the issues over the line. Nonetheless, he contends that the proposed rate changes for 2007 can still be affected by reform."

July 20, 2006 -- According to the Sioux City Journal, "U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin on Wednesday announced he had included a provision in a transportation appropriations bill that would halt the U.S. Postal Service from consolidating mail processing facilities, including Sioux City's, until a government oversight entity completes a follow-up report."

July 20, 2006 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:

Renowned investment banks would like to see Deutsche Post broken up into its different segments. German business magazine "Wirtschaftswoche" (17.07) reports that leading investment bankers have recommended private investors to take over the logistics group completely and subsequently sell off individual segments at a profit.
The emerging liberalisation of the European postal market seems to create new coalitions. In a joint press release last week, the chairs of the Dutch, Swedish, Finnish and German post companies demanded a complete opening of the markets in 2009.
Last week, Germany's government-owned KfW banking group sold Deutsche Post shares worth around 1.5bn euros. KfW's equity share has thus decreased from 41.6 to 35.5%.
In an interview with Sweden's daily business journal „Dagens Industri" (15.07), CEO Erik Olsson of Posten Sverige AB announced further job cuts.
The RFID project "Wasal" announced last year by Saudi Postal Corporation (SPC) is going ahead according to schedule.
Deutsche Post will probably have to pay VAT from 2008.
Malaysian pension fund 'Employees Provident Fund Board' has acquired a share of almost 7% of Pos Malaysia & Services Holdings Bhd.
The Swiss regulator PostReg has instituted proceedings against TNT Swiss Post AG.
Royal Mail's European parcel network General Logistics Systems intends to invest over 100m euros in its network during the current financial year.
Last week, UPS announced an extensive rollout of new handheld 'Delivery Information Acquisition Device' terminals in Europe.
The Finnish post has sold its 49-% share in Finnish transport company Kelpo Kuljetus (2005 turnover: 94.5m euros) to DHL.

The MRU, founded in 1992, is the only consultancy in Europe, which has specialised in the market of courier-, express- and parcel services. For large-scale shippers and CEP-services in particular, the MRU provides interdisciplinary advice for all major questions of the market, as there are for example market entry, product design, organisation, and EDP.To learn more about the stories reported above, contact CEP News.

July 19, 2006 -- The Congressional Research Service has issued a report entitled: "Changing Postal ZIP Code Boundaries."

July 19, 2006 -- The Jersey Evening Post has reported that "Following Jersey Post's restructuring as a private company on 1 July - although it is still owned by the States - its business services are being brought under the umbrella title the jersey post group and given new identities in a bid to raise the profile of its products in increasingly competitive areas."

July 19, 2006 -- According to the Western Mail, "A new concept in paying for stamps will be introduced next month to make prices fairer for customers, according to the Royal Mail."

July 19, 2006 -- The Financial Times has reported that "Plans by Royal Mail bosses to give all staff shares in the company received an unexpected boost yesterday when the minister responsible for postal services denied that the scheme would be a form of privatisation. Allan Leighton, Royal Mail chairman, has been lobbying the government to set up an employee share trust that would provide postal workers with a stake in the business to win their support for far-reaching restructuring."

July 19, 2006 -- The Middle Eastern Express, Logistics and Transportation markets are some of the most dynamic emerging markets anywhere in the world. They are attracting an increasingly high level of interest and investment as global companies, seeking growth rates and profit levels far beyond what they can achieve in more developed markets, shift their strategic focus to the region. The region's governments themselves are investing billions in new logistics infrastructure fueled by oil revenues and the need to diversify their industrial base. Middle East Logistics 2006 contains profiles of all the major markets, logistics and express operators, market sizing and forecasts as well as trade and economic data. It provides essential market intelligence for any company either already present or thinking about entering the region.

July 19, 2006 -- The Athlone Advertiser has reported that "Fine Gael Cllr Nicky McFadden has called on ComReg (the Communications Regulator) to investigate standards at An Post after what she said had been a number of incidences of poor service, including post going missing, in the midlands."

July 18, 2006 -- The Communication Workers Union has told its members that "In the last two days talks have taken place with Royal Mail on the Postal Executive's amendments to the draft agreement. We've not yet been able to reach a final position and talks are continuing. The Postal Executive are due to meet on Thursday and will consider the position reached at that time."

July 18, 2006 -- According to the Associated Press, "E-mail is so last millennium. Young people see it as a good way to reach an elder _ a parent, teacher or a boss _ or to receive an attached file. But increasingly, the former darling of high-tech communication is losing favor to instant and text messaging, and to the chatter generated on blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace."

July 18, 2006 -- BNA has reported that "Congressional staff members involved with drafting a Postal Service reform bill are expected July 18 to discuss recent recommendations made by the White House about the legislation. Staff from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House Committee on Government Reform are to discuss ways to appease the White House, which has threatened a veto of the bill."

July 18, 2006 -- According to the Toronto Sun, "Organized crime may be linked to the increasing number of attacks on Canada Post letter carriers, their union says."

July 18, 2006 -- According to GovExec.com, "Negotiations have stalled over House and Senate legislation to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service following a meeting with White House officials." [Editor's Note: Del Polito said that the Administration "favored including mediation as an interim step between collective bargaining and binding arbitration in the event the parties could not agree on a contract"...not that it was "pushing for a final bill to include Senate language that would require all labor negotiations to go through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service."]

July 18, 2006 -- Arab News has reported that "Residents of major Saudi cities will now be able to have the added luxury of having their mail delivered to and sent from their doorsteps in an initiative that will soon cover the whole of Saudi Arabia."

July 18, 2006 -- Federal Computer Week has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service has completed the presolicitation process for a contract to run its Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 project management office. The companies being considered are Booz Allen Hamilton, Northrop Grumman, Accenture, Maden Technologies, Maximus, Hewlett-Packard, Excella Consulting and Enspier Technologies. USPS said it was looking for vendors that are familiar with all aspects of HSPD-12."

July 18, 2006 -- Financial Times Deutschland has reported that "Pin, the German postal service provider, has acquired two regional German postal operators, Westmail and Citipost. This has brought the company closer to its target of being able to offer services throughout Germany by the end of the year; Pin says that it can now offer services to almost 70 per cent of the German market."

July 17, 2006 -- From the U.S. Postal Service:"Postmaster General Jack Potter has announced that a new Global Business organization will be created and Paul Vogel has been named its first senior vice president and managing director. Potter also has selected Anthony (Tony) Pajunas to serve as vice president, Network Operations."

July 17, 2006 -- From the U.S. Postal Service: "The U.S. Postal Service focus of using the latest technology to make customer transactions quick, easy and convenient is now being extended to its employees. The Postal Service is replacing its existing outdated human resources technology with a fully-integrated system to streamline, standardize and automate HR processes. Once fully implemented, the new system—called PostalPEOPLE—will be the largest of its kind anywhere. PostalPEOPLE replaces a system that consisted of over 3,800 Postal Service HR professionals relying on more than 200 processes and some 70 systems to support nearly 700,000 employees and facilitate millions of personnel transactions each year. Many of these old systems were at maximum capacity."

July 17, 2006 -- KSL Newsradio has reported that "We didn't quite believe this when we first heard about it, but could it be that the drivers with United Parcel Service don't make left turns anymore? That's right, drivers are instructed to avoid making "lefts" as often as possible."

July 17, 2006 -- The Wall Street Journal has noted that "In a sign of a renewed interest in email as a marketing tool, several big companies including International Business Machines and Cisco Systems are tapping futuristic technology aimed at tracking how people read what is on a computer screen. The technology, called "heatmapping," can tell marketers what parts of their emails get the most attention, allowing companies to redesign the messages to improve their effectiveness. Developed by San Francisco software concern Eyetools, heatmapping uses cameras attached to a computer that track a person's eye movements to figure out what part of a computer screen is being viewed. The results are displayed in vivid colors on what is called a "heat map" that makes clear where on the screen people's eyes focus."

July 17, 2006 -- Eurotext has reported that "Chief Executive Officers of national postal companies in the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Germany have started a joint initiative for a complete opening of the postal markets in Europe by 2009. In a policy paper addressed to Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, CEOs Peter Bakker (TNT), Erik Olsson (Posten AB), Jukka Alho (Finland Post Corporation) and Klaus Zumwinkel (Deutsche Post World Net) plead for a sustainable postal sector in the next decades that should be realised by a complete market liberalisation by 2009 and the modernisation of the universal service."

July 17, 2006 -- The Financial Times has reported that "The world's largest logistics group is looking to grow its business with retail customers outside the UK and luxury goods groups, according to its head. John Allan, the head of Deutsche Post's logistics division and the former chief executive of Exel, the UK company taken over by the German postal giant, said such opportunities should lead the unit to faster growth than the 5-6 per cent he forecasted for the industry as a whole."

July 17, 2006 -- According to The Independent, "Union leaders are set to hold a strike ballot among 12,000 Royal Mail managers and supervisors in the dispute over pay. Officials at Amicus argued that an informal offer means 4 out of 10 senior staff would receive less than the inflation rate and would in effect suffer a drop in income. On Wednesday, employees' representatives will urge the union's executive to authorise a vote on walkouts."

July 17, 2006 -- The Czech Business Weekly has reported that "Czech postal service operator Česká pošta (ČP) is in talks with the country's retail chains on expanding its network of outlets in hypermarkets, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported. But the negotiations won't be closed any time soon."

July 17, 2006 -- DM News has reported that "Harte-Hanks Inc. is expected to announce today it has expanded its relationship with the U.S. Postal Service to provide data-driven marketing as part of the agency's business prospecting system."

July 16 2006 -- The Wimbledon News has reported that "The Royal Mail has been told to sharpen up its act after newsletters on Putney and Wimbledon Common were found dumped in a bin."

July 16, 2006 -- As the Mobile Register has noted, ""Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." That sentiment, inscribed on the General Post Office at Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street in New York, has become the unofficial motto of the U.S. Postal Service. But these days, it is unlikely that those rounds will mean a carrier visits a mailbox at every house in every new subdivision in Alabama. And that's got the homebuilding community at loggerheads with the postal service."

July 16, 2006 -- The National Association of Letter Carriers has told its members that "NALC's support for comprehensive postal reform legislation is now cast in doubt after key mailers walked away from an effort to find a reasonable compromise on the issue of price indexing that lies at the heart of the legislation languishing in Congress. The mailers abandoned negotiations with pro-reform employee groups, including NALC, and lined up behind the Bush Administration's demand for the inflexible, "hard price cap" included in the Senate-passed version of the bill. The demand is just one of many damaging anti-labor proposals being pushed by the White House, including one to interfere with our collective bargaining by tilting the interest arbitration process in favor of postal management and another to saddle the USPS with military pension obligations."

July 16, 2006 -- As the Times Leader has noted, "The average consumer is bombarded with well over 1,000 advertising messages per day. … Businesses are desperate to stand out."

July 16, 2006 -- The National Postal Mail Handlers Union has told its members that "Prospects for postal reform took a nose dive this week, when the White House and many major mailers jointly proposed amendments to the pending bills that could cut employee wages and benefits and gut the collective bargaining process.'

July 15, 2006 -- eWeek has reported that "Two U.S. senators, Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota, and John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, launched the U.S. Senate RFID Caucus in mid-July to educate colleagues about the potential uses and benefits of RFID."

July 15, 2006 -- The Houston Chronicle has reported that "The Justice Department has subpoenaed business records of FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc. as part of a broad investigation into possible antitrust violations in the air cargo industry, the companies said Friday. The investigation, which became public in February, is believed to focus on allegations of industry collusion in the United States and Europe to fix prices on surcharges for fuel. Airline passenger fees also are being investigated."

July 15, 2006 -- The Nigerian Tribune has reported that "CONTRARY to the expectation in some quarters, the Acting Postmaster General of the Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Mori Baba, has stated that the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) will not be privatised but commercialised. He said that the parastatals is already undergoing various reform processes to make it commercially viable."

July 15, 2006 -- UPS has announced it had received a subpoena from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice requesting records relating to an on-going criminal investigation. The investigation, which was publicly announced in February 2006, relates to the air cargo pricing practices of a number of airlines. UPS does not believe it is a target of the investigation and will cooperate with the Justice Department.

July 15, 2006 -- The latest copy of the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. electronic governmental affairs newsletter is available on the NAPUS web site.

July 14, 2006 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• The discovery phase in the Postal Service’s rate case R2006-1 closes July 14; ‘forever stamp’ discovery period ends Aug. 7. Given the case’s complexity and the growing number of interrogatories filed in the case, some industry observers were surprised the Postal Rate Commission did not set the discovery deadline for later in July. A procedural schedule contains rate case deadlines.

• The USPS published an interim rule and request for comments on amending the standards concerning the duration and submission of temporary change-of-address (COA) orders in the July 7, 2006, edition of the Federal Register. The USPS interim rule, which takes effect August 3, reduces the temporary mail forwarding maximum duration for an initial order from the existing 12 months to six months, and establishes a minimum duration for temporary COAS of two weeks.

• In this perspective, postal commentator Gene Del Polito raises the questions mailers want to know about R2006 and ratemaking – When? How? What will happen with postal reform?

• Parcel Select manifest mailings move to eVS. USPS clarifies Express Mail delivery guarantee. Chief spokesman Jaffer leaves Postal Service. New MTAC workgroups plan August meetings. Conway to lead Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers.

• Tory wants to give Royal Mail away. ‘Japan Post Group’ to emerge from breakup. General Logistics want to field own airline. The mail usual got through.

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July 14, 2006 -- APWU President William Burrus has denounced Postal Service plans to subcontract work currently performed by bargaining unit employees at more than half of the nation’s Air Mail Centers. “This ill-advised adventure would privatize an important and sensitive sector of the United States Postal Service, slashing the postal workforce and jeopardizing security and service to ordinary citizens,” he said. “Once again, management is succumbing to the demands of the big advertising mailers.”

July 14, 2006 -- Dutch postal and express company TNT NV is targeting aggressive expansion in China by developing its own transportation network, the Wall Street Journal said, citing company officials.

July 14, 2006 -- Deeikaglobal has reported that "India Post will unveil a special tear and water resistance envelopes, manufactured in collaboration with DuPont India, to cash in on the forthcoming 'Raksha Bhandhan' festivities."

July 14, 2006 -- The RFID Journal has reported that "The Chinese postal service China Post is rolling out an EPCglobal-compliant radio frequency identification (RFID) system to keep tabs on bags of express mail delivered within the postal district of Shanghai. The technology will track the status of the mailbags en route from individual Shanghai post offices to various collection and sortation centers throughout the city, situated on the banks of the Yangtze River delta."

July 14, 2006 -- IPE has reported that "Fondoposte, the complementary pension fund for Italian postal workers, is looking for managers to manage €100m of assets."

July 14, 2006 -- The Portland Press Herald has reported that "A massive mail plant is set to open in Scarborough in a couple of weeks, a culmination of the U.S. Postal Service's effort nearly 10-year effort to consolidate the area's mail processing and distribution in a larger space."

July 14, 2006 -- The following reports have been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General website:

• NL-AR-06-005 Mail Transport Equipment Service Center Network - Highway Transportation Routes - Memphis 3/28/2006
  http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/NL-AR-06-005.pdf
• NO-MA-06-002 Mail Processing Operations in the Wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita 3/27/2006
  http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/NO-MA-06-002.pdf
• FF-AR-06-096 AM Standards Operating Procedures - Fiscal Year 2005 Financial Installation Audit 3/20/2006
  http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/FF-AR-06-096.pdf
• DR-AR-06-001 Address Management System - Southwest Area, Rio Grande District 1/25/2006
  http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/DR-AR-06-001.pdf
• FT-AR-06-013 J.T. Weeker (Chicago) International Service Center - Inbound International Mail 3/22/2006
  http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/FT-AR-06-013.pdf
• NL-AR-06-003 Mail Transport Service Center Network - Highway Transportation Routes - San Francisco 3/23/2006
  http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/NL-AR-06-003.pdf
• IS-AR-06-006 Data Input Validation for the Facilities Database 3/30/2006
  http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/IS-AR-06-006.pdf
• DA-WP-06-001 Technology Acquisition Management Process Manual - Phase 1, Proof of Concept 3/28/2006
  http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/DA-WP-06-001.pdf
• DR-AR-06-003 City Letter Carrier Operations - Greater Indiana District 3/28/2006
  http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/DR-AR-06-003.pdf

July 14, 2006 -- From the PR Newswire: "RELM Wireless Corporation has announced that its exclusive supply agreement with the United States Postal Service (USPS) has been extended through July 14, 2007."

July 13, 2006 -- The Asahi Shimbun has reported that "After being bombarded with complaints about unfairness, the National Police Agency on Thursday decided to prohibit Japan Post vehicles that deliver packages from parking on the streets next year."

July 13, 2006 -- Bizjournals.com has reported that "First Horizon National Corp. has struck a deal that will soon allow customers of First Horizon Bank and First Tennessee Bank to have deposits forwarded overnight through The UPS Store."

July 13, 2006 -- As Advertising Age has noted, "The U.S. Postal Service is proposing to ease standards for when a magazine's circulation counts as paid, effectively permitting publishers to send out ad-heavy special editions or advertorials without running afoul of postal rules and possibly leading to more rate-cutting promos. In a filing last week with the Postal Rate Commission, the Postal Service proposed that in order for magazines to qualify for a paid-periodical rate, only 30% of subscriptions would have to be sold at the basic subscription rate, rather than the 50% required now."

July 13, 2006 -- Federal Times has reported that "Postmasters, executives, supervisors and administrative workers in many cases are seeing higher annual raises and bonuses under the U.S. Postal Service’s nearly 3-year-old pay-for-performance system than they did under the previous system. Increases are averaging 5 percent under the new system, compared with 4 percent previously."

July 13, 2006 -- NewIndPress has reported that "Brit postal employees try to pep up their humdrum job by accessing porn sites 2,135 times a day at work. A secret survey leaked to The Sun has revealed that Royal Mail staff clicked on 45,583 blocked sites over three weeks. Of these, 44,839 were porn pages, 458 violent and 286 racist and hate-related."

July 13, 2006 -- According to the Associated Press, "Targeted at small businesses and shipping-intensive consumers such as eBay sellers, RedRoller is free to use. The Norwalk, Conn.-based company expects to make money from advertising and supplemental businesses such as sales of shipping supplies and integration of RedRoller's service with outside sites. The site connects to FedEx, DHL, the U.S. Postal Service and some regional couriers, but there's a conspicuous absence: UPS, which refused to open its systems to RedRoller."

July 13, 2006 -- The Governors of the U.S. Postal Service has issued "A Decision on the Opinion and Recommended Decision of the Postal Rate Commission On Classification Changes For Express Mail Second Day Service, Docket No. MC2006–4."

June 12, 2006 -- The Mailers Technical Advisory Committee recently formed a new workgroup (#104) focused on list certification in an effort to improve address quality and thus reduce undeliverable as addressed (UAA) mail. A previous MTAC work group (#97) on address quality methodologies recommended the development of a list certification program with industry and USPS participation. This workgroup will hold its first meeting on August 1, 2006 at 1:00 EDT at the USPS headquarters in Washington, DC. The meeting is scheduled to last 2 hours and will focus on kicking off this workgroup by setting goals, and establishing future meeting dates and locations. Interested parties should contact the USPS co-chairs Charles Hunt (Charles.Hunt@usps.gov) and Jim Wilson (james.d.wilson@usps.gov), or the industry co-chair Chris Lien (chris.lien@businessobjects.com). Once the industry participation list is approved by the USPS, participants will be notified of the room number for this meeting.

June 12, 2006 --  Providing timely address information throughout the mailing industry has become more critical as advanced automation equipment is deployed. There are a number of different situations involved. Some requirements are urgent and some routine, some very particular and some more general. Specifically, the recent natural disasters in the form of hurricanes Katrina and Rita serve as examples to show that the USPS methodology for expedited information dissemination that is already being used should be discussed with a view to ensuring that it covers all the bases. The MTAC work group #97 on address quality recommended the area of information dissemination for further attention due to its high potential for benefits at relatively low cost. Interested parties need to provide their contact information as soon as possible to be placed on the list for USPS approval to participate. Please send such information to steve.lopez@experian.com and/or jeff.stangle@pb.com . The first industry meeting date has been set for August 2, 2006 at USPS HQ from 9-11 AM to coincide with MTAC meetings. Once our industry participation list is approved by the USPS, we will be notifying the participants of the room number for this meeting.

July 12, 2006 -- Enhancing Competition in the Postal Sector: Can We Do Away with Sector-Specific Regulation? Over the last ten years, the European Commission has been trying to increase competition in the postal sector. In order to achieve this goal, as well as other objectives such as the enhancement of the quality of postal services in the EU and the maintenance of universal service, the Commission adopted a first postal directive in 1997. Directive 97/67 sought to progressively reduce the scope of the postal incumbents' reserved area, but also imposed a range of regulatory obligations on postal operators. This directive was amended by Directive 2002/39, which further reduced the scope of the reserved area and clarified a certain number of regulatory provisions. The Commission is expected to issue its proposal for a third postal directive by the end of this year, initiating the process of full accomplishment of the internal market for postal services by the original target date of 2009 as indicated in the 2002 directive.

July 12, 2006 -- According to postal commentator Gene Del Polito, "Inquiring minds want to know. Is R2006 going to be the last rate case mailers will ever have to face under the present postal ratemaking regime? Will we finally see an end to increases that go way beyond any reasonable calculation of the cost of inflation? And when can we finally begin to see the Postal Service recalibrate its thinking to become more in line with the needs of mail-using businesses?"

July 12, 2006 -- Bloomberg has reported that "Germany is selling a stake in Deutsche Post AG, Europe's biggest postal service, worth about 1.5 billion euros ($1.9 billion), according to details from the banks managing the sale."

July 12, 2006 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:

If the EU commission decides to follow the recommendations of two recently commissioned reports, postal markets in Europe could be completely opened to competition in 2009.
Private equity firm Candover is the new owner of Britain's DX Services.
According to Reuters news agency, the British Communication Workers Union (CWU) is determined to translate its threat into action and ballot its members on the strike issue.
Sweden's Posten AB is granting all staff members two extra holidays as a thank-you for the excellent 2005 annual result.
The Japanese daily "Nihon Keizai Shimbunu (06.07) reports that Japan Post intends to co-operate with Japan's leading operator of online shopping centres.
The Finnish Posti Oy announced the takeover of Norwegian carrier Universal Spedisjon AS.
Switzerland is experiencing growing criticism of discriminatory practices against the post's competitors in customs clearance of goods procedures.
In a joint effort, four Slovenian transport and logistics operators intend to open up new international customer markets.
Poland's transport secretary Jerzy Polaczek appointed Miroslaw Jakubowski new deputy director general of the Polish post.

The MRU, founded in 1992, is the only consultancy in Europe, which has specialised in the market of courier-, express- and parcel services. For large-scale shippers and CEP-services in particular, the MRU provides interdisciplinary advice for all major questions of the market, as there are for example market entry, product design, organisation, and EDP.To learn more about the stories reported above, contact CEP News.

July 12, 2006 -- According to Brandweek, "Package delivery service DHL has unveiled a national program, “ Hometown heroes” to support its role as the official express delivery and logistics provider of Major League Baseball. The effort will be anchored by hall-of-fame type program in which each of MLB’s 30 teams will nominate five players from its history who best represent each teams’ accomplishments, character and leadership. Fans will then vote on their favorites from July 18 through September 17. The official winning roster will be unveiled prior to the playoffs in September."

July 12, 2006 -- According to Forbes, "Royal Mail's GLS intends to create its own express air delivery. Ultimately, GLS Air wants to have a fleet of 25 aircraft that will fly to 17 European nations"

July 12, 2006 -- Scoop has reported that "NZ Post is threatening to dismiss striking posties for not delivering junk mail [Editor's note: Go wash your mouth out with soap!] and bills, says the Postal Workers Association."

July 12, 2006 -- Ghanaweb has reported that "The Ghana Post Company Limited is positioning itself to provide a new image and direction of postal services on the African continent in the face of serious technological developments and competition. Elected as the new Chair of the Pan African Postal Union (PAPU) at the 25th Ordinary Session of the Administrative Council of the Union recently held in Accra, Ghana Posts is now diversifying its services, and would provide the leadership for a crusade to reform the African postal service to make it survive as a viable venture.

July 12, 2006 -- The Manchester Evening News has reported that "A COMPANY handed a licence under the deregulation of the postal service showed signs of recovery following a profits warning earlier this year. Business Post warned in January that annual profits for the year to March 31 would be £4.5m lower than expectations because of the cost of buying out the leases to a string of franchised depots. Business Post said a number of initiatives had helped stabilise its performance since then, adding that recent trading had been satisfactory and in line with market hopes."

July 12, 2006 -- VietnamNet Bridge has reported that "Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged investigators to quickly wind up investigations into the misappropriation of VND40 billion (US$2.5mil) by Nguyen Lam Thai and several other officials from 37 provincial post offices."

July 12, 2006 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "It has been announced that Dr. Klaus Zumwinkel, Chairman of the Board of Management at Deutsche Post World Net, has informed U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the company was joining the U.N. Global Compact. The official declaration of the company's intentions to join the Global Compact was handed to Kofi Annan by Dr. Monika Wulf-Mathies, Managing Director of Corporate Public Policy and Sustainability at Deutsche Post World Net, in the presence of German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel on the occasion of the ceremonial opening of the U.N. campus in Bonn. Kofi Annan initiated the Global Compact in 1999. The aim of the program is to form a network among civil groups, labour unions, federations and U.N. organizations in order to promote a social and environmentally friendly form of globalization."

July 11, 2006 -- As the Wall Street Journal has noted: "The Problem: Finding the cheapest, fastest way to ship a package. The Solution: RedRoller.com generates all-in-one price quotes and delivery speeds from FedEx, DHL, the U.S. Postal Service and regional carriers Eastern Connection and Overnite Express. Iship.com, owned by United Parcel Service, and Pakmail.com also offer quotes on shipping."

July 11, 2006 -- The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has reported that "The union for postal workers says a new industry ombudsman will mean complaints about late mail. Australia Post has recently shifted its mail sorting."

July 11, 2006 -- The Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Postal Service has posted on its web site two new reports:

• International Mail Air Transportation Rates (Report Number MS-WP-06-002)
• White Paper – USPS Cost Burdens (Product Number MS-WP-06-001)

July 11, 2006 -- The Gaylord Herald Times has reported that "Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, will not allow the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to minimize service in his district under any circumstances, said John Marcotte, president of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), Gaylord, following a meeting in Washington, D.C. June 30."

July 11, 2006 -- The Daily Yomiuri has reported that "Companies to emerge under Japan Post after its privatization in October 2007 will be called Japan Post Group."

July 11, 2006 -- Scoop has provided an interesting press briefing on the New Zealand postal worker dispute.

July 10, 2006 -- According to the Bidvertiser, "Many Amazon Pro-Merchants are irritated that the new feedback form seems to further encourage buyers to: one, blame sellers for tardy deliveries by the Postal Service, and two, submit negative feedback before contacting their seller."

July 10, 2006 -- The RFID Journal has reported that "At a dozen sites across the United States, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is in the process of adding RFID-based tracking systems to improve efficiencies and cut costs associated with the operation and maintenance of forklifts and other industrial vehicles used in its processing facilities. The USPS has already installed the system at about 40 sites since the three-year contract started in 2005."

July 10, 2006 -- From the Federal Register: "The U.S. Postal Service has published a final rule that sets forth the standards that will be adopted by the Postal ServiceTM to implement the electronic data and automated processes of the Electronic Verification System (eVS) for permit imprint Parcel Select[supreg] manifest mailings and eliminate current paper-driven and manual processes used for such mailings. This required change will also extend to Standard Mail[supreg] machinable parcels and parcels from other Package Services subclasses (Bound Printed Matter, Library Mail, or Media Mail[supreg]) that are authorized to be commingled with permit imprint Parcel Select parcels. This final rule takes effect August 1, 2007."

July 10, 2006 -- According to International Freighting Weekly, "Parcelforce is considering starting day-certain, time-specific services over the next six months."

July 10, 2006 -- According to the Communication Workers Union, "A highly critical Safety Report has been published on Royal Mail Delivery work across the UK. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report details the findings of HSE and Local Authority Safety Inspectors during their 2004 - 2005 programme of visits and investigations. The report makes 10 recommendations for change."

July 10, 2006 -- The BBC has reported that "An exhibition tracing the history of different forms of transport used by the postal service over the past century is to open next month. Rarely-seen vehicles and images from the Royal Mail's archive are to be displayed at Coventry Transport Museum. The exhibition will feature photographs of an 1850s mail coach, BSA Bantam motorbikes and five-wheeled bicycles as well as a 1930s mobile post office."

July 10, 2006 -- The Charlotte Observer has reported that "From Texas to Alaska to Colorado and beyond, cargo pilots are dying in large numbers. Yet, beyond loved ones left behind, few are paying attention, and the Federal Aviation Administration -- the industry's watchdog -- has ignored specific pleas to upgrade safety for a highly competitive business plagued by a culture of cut corners, loose oversight and risky flying, a Miami Herald investigation has found."

July 10, 2006 -- According to the Jakarta Post, "The world's leading express and logistics company, DHL, inaugurated Friday the expansion of a gateway at the cargo terminal of Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali. The new and improved gateway comprises 288 square meters of warehousing space and 180 sq m for office and administrative activities. It features an integrated design to house sales, service, warehousing and administration functions under one roof."

July 10, 2006 -- New Vision has reported that "DOCTOR Ham Mulira, the ICT minister, has pledged to support Posta Uganda to be competitive and increase its profitability. He was addressing Posta’s management and board members at the General Post Office on Kampala Road last week. The minister commended Posta Uganda for facilitating communication. He advised the management to be innovative and provide more services."

July 10, 2006 -- TVNZ has reported that "New Zealand Post says posties on strike in Auckland and Northland are a small minority of its workforce and it will not be caving in to their demands."

July 10, 2006 -- The Times has reported that "A SENIOR Conservative will call tomorrow for Royal Mail to be “given away” in a plan to split it into four and sell off a quarter of the organisation. Tim Yeo, the former Shadow Trade and Industry spokesman, wants to give a quarter of Royal Mail shares to its employees; a quarter to its ailing pension fund; a quarter to a fund to support rural and other vulnerable post offices; and a quarter to outside investors."

July 10, 2006 -- DM News has reported that "Sweepstakes and direct marketing company Publishers Clearing House, acquired Blingo Inc. to extend its reach into the $9 billion Internet search engine market. Blingo users search the Internet just as they would on other search engines, but each search is also a chance to instantly win prizes ranging in value from movie tickets to iPods to Visa gift cards. Visitors can also become registered users with added benefits."

July 10, 2006 -- The Jamaica Gleaner has reported that "JAMAICA'S ACTING Post-master General/CEO, Michael Gentles, was elected to the chair of secretary general of the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU) at the recently concluded 10th annual conference which was held in St Vincent. He will continue to be based in Jamaica for the duration of the two-year term of office. Loretta Charlemagne, who previously held this position, is now the Universal Postal Union's (UPU) regional adviser to the Caribbean. The UPU is a branch of the United Nations and is specifically geared towards postal service cooperation via international laws and conventions."

July 10, 2006 -- Smart House News has reported that "The Postal Industry Ombudsman (PIO), which will investigate and act on complaints about Australia Post and registered private postal operators, has opened in Sydney. The office was launched by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, who said in a statement that the Federal Government decided that the PIO was best established as a separate office within the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman."

July 10, 2006 -- Traffic World has reported that "The Teamsters want to organize the whole supply chain, not just one shop or sector at a time. "We're talking about air cargo, the ships and ports, the rails, the warehouses," Jeff Farmer director of organizing at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters told the group's recent annual convention. "I think our union is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this global supply chain, this so-called logistics revolution."

July 10, 2006 -- The Economist has reported that "A bevy of entrepreneurial firms—from Google, the world's most valuable online advertising agency disguised as a web-search engine, to tiny Silicon Valley upstarts, many of them only months old—are now selling advertisers new tools to reduce waste. These come in many exotic forms, but they have one thing in common: a desire to replace the old approach to advertising, in which advertisers pay for the privilege of “exposing” a theoretical audience to their message, with one in which advertisers pay only for real and measurable actions by consumers, such as clicking on a web link, sharing a video, placing a call, printing a coupon or buying something."

July 10, 2006 -- The Hindu has reported that "The postal department will soon start Logistics post from here targeting large consignments of goods specially for the corporate sector, which is expected to bring in revenue worth Rs 100 crore in the first year. With the high growth in the Indian economy, transport and logistics will be forming a very important part of any business and Logistics post has been planned in view of this emerging potential."

July 9, 2006 -- MENA-FN has reported that "Emirates Post has entered into collaboration with Profiles International, renowned global state-of-the-art employee assessment consultants, to implement an advanced assessment and assessor training program for the benefit of employees as well as external companies."

July 9, 2006 -- According to AuctionBytes, "People love the Postal Service. Mostly they love to trash it. Complaints of lost mail and misdirected mail abound amid ever-increasing rates. (First class postage will probably rise to 42 cents by year-end, and you can expect priority mail and similar services to rise as well.) But for every complaint of a lost letter there are probably over a million that make it to the destination safely and with amazing efficiency."

July 9, 2006 -- As the Washington Post has noted, "As surely as the light bulb and the automobile before them, the cellphone and text messaging are radically changing the way people live in the developing world. In widespread use for about five years in much of Africa, technology long taken for granted by the world's rich has made life easier, safer and more prosperous for the world's poor.

July 9, 2006 -- The Times-Picayune has reported that "Though Hurricane Katrina kept New Orleans' postal carriers from their appointed rounds for months, the city's mail service is ramping back up to full force, with three more offices recently reopened or slated for renovation, Postmaster Alan Cousin told the City Council on Thursday."

July 9, 2006 -- KOAT has reported that "Some mail sent to Las Cruces residents had been backed up at the main post office for at least seven months, according to an investigation by U.S. Postal Service's Office of the Inspector General."

July 9, 2006 -- According to the Irish Times, "DX Ireland, which was considering starting a postal delivery service to rival An Post, has postponed the idea until after the postal market is fully liberalised, saying it is not financially viable. Under the terms of existing legislation, any newcomer to the postal market has to charge 2.5 times the 48 cent charged by State postal operator An Post for all items under 50g."

July 8, 2006 -- New Kerala has reported that ""Kotitheertham"(holy water) of Sri Ramanathaswamy temple here would be made available to devotees across the country through post from today. According to Jayaraman, Business Promotion Officer of the Postal department, those who need "Kotitheertham" for pooja purposes or otherwise, should send Rs.100 by Money Order to the Rameswaram Post Office which would parcel them 200 ml packet of the holy water."

July 8, 2006 -- According to the Central Chronicle, "Union Finance Ministry has withdrawn service-tax only from Money-Order service provided by Department of Posts. Otherwise also, service-tax was imposed only on those postal services like Speed-Post which did not require fixing of postal stamps. Such irrationality can and should be rationalised by imposing a system whereby service-tax may be reversely charged on net receipt by postal department rather than imposing it on the postal tariff."

July 8, 2006 -- National Association of Letter Carriers president William Young told his members that "It may be too much to hope that the historic struggle between Labor Relations and Operations is over, but I’d settle for a truce long enough for us to complete a successful round of bargaining in the fall."

July 8, 2006 -- The American Postal Workers Union told its members that "The specter of excessing has loomed large in postal workers’ lives seemingly forever, and its possibility is always a source of anxiety to the rank and file. That’s why management’s concerted effort to consolidate postal services in every corner of the country could be — unless we step up to the plate to battle it — a form of institutional excessing, with the lives of thousands of postal workers and their families disrupted."

July 8, 2006 -- As told by the Washington Post, "When Laura Roy sent her two nieces to summer camp in Southern Maryland, she equipped them with stamps, stationery and pre-addressed envelopes. Two weeks later, the postal service hasn't delivered any letters from them. Instead, Michelle, 11, and Danielle, 8, have been sending handwritten notes to Roy's e-mail inbox, telling tales of canoe trips and cold showers at Camp St. Charles near Newburg, Md., and she replies with e-mailed messages of her own." The times...they are a'changin."

July 7, 2006 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• The Postal Service released its numbers for the month of May this week and posted an eight percent increase in total mail volume to 1.3 billion pieces over the same period a year ago. All major mail categories posted volumes above their May 2005 levels with the exception of Periodical Mail and International Mail. Total revenue was $67 million or 1.1 percent over plan, and $631 million or 11.5 percent over May 2005.
• The U.S. Postal Service will avoid $110 million in energy savings through ten recently-awarded energy conservation contracts under the USPS’ Shared Energy Savings program. The contracts, awarded to six companies that will receive a percentage of the savings attributable to the projects in return for assuming all implementation costs, have an estimated value of $1.3 billion.
• On the eve of labor negotiations, the Postal Service told the National Postal Mail Handlers Union that it is considering outsourcing operations at 43 air mail centers across the country.
• In this perspective, Mailers Council exec Bob McLean says the U.S. Postal Service is doing a major disservice to its business customers by not publishing preparation makeup standards and rules accompanying the next rate case. It’s something he contends the USPS should do now to help mailers prepare to submit their fiscal 2007 budget requests on or before Aug. 1.
• In this perspective, postal commentator Gene Del Polito warns direct mailers they must fight back and deflect attacks against the postal industry that portray business mailers as despoilers of American culture, rights and the environment.
• USPS files to change nominal rate definition for Periodicals subscriptions. Postal Service gives mailers new preparation option for Parcel Select and BPM. USPS offers global mail kits to business mailers. Valassis to acquire ADVO. Postal Service IG office wins telecommuting prize. UPS won’t try to block organizing effort. UPS, pilots reach labor accord.
• Are U.K. postal chiefs at a breaking point? Depends on whom you ask. TNT Logistics sale proceeds. Size-based pricing launches in August in U.K. India won’t tax postal products. TNT wants to make private deliveries. High-end U.K. postal providers to merge? Geodis, FedEx to cooperate.
• SunTrust Banks join PostCom as new member.
• A list of upcoming postal-related events.

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July 7, 2006 -- The PayPhone Project has reported that "The PRC yesterday released a comprehensive database of mail collection boxes throughout the United States. This database is believed to include locations, descriptions, and scheduled pick-up times for every postal collection box in America."

July 7, 2006 -- Air Cargo World has reported that "Air cargo traffic increased 9.9 percent in May over the same month last year, according to the Air Transport Association."

July 7, 2006 -- In its latest financial report, the U.S. Postal Service said that ""Total Mail Volume for May was 1.3 billion pieces or 8.0% above SPLY. With the exception of Periodical Mail and International Mail, all of the major mail categories posted volumes above their May 2005 levels. Year-to-date, Total Mail Volume is 0.9% or 1.2 billion pieces above SPLY. A significant mail volume increase over SPLY for YTD is in the lower revenue-per-piece Standard Mail category, which increased 1.4 billion pieces or 2.1%. YTD, First-Class Mail volume is 0.6% less than SPLY generating only $470 million more revenue than SPLY."

July 7, 2006 -- Fleet Owner has reported that "The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and UPS Corp. have secured a “card check” agreement that would allow UPS Freight—formerly Overnite Transportation— employees to vote for union representation. UPS would recognize the union if over 50% of its Freight employees agree to representation."

July 7, 2006 -- The Louisville Courier-Journal has reported that "The union representing 2,700 UPS pilots has started distributing details of its tentative agreement with the shipping company, a deal that increases average captain pay to about $300,000."

July 7, 2006 -- The BBC Monitoring Service has reported that "The government of Nepal is to waive all postal charges on newspapers from the coming fiscal year. Minister of State for Information and Communications Dilendra Prasad Badu informed central officials of the Weekly-Fortnightly Publications Network that under the coming national budget newspapers will not have to pay postage when being mailed outside, and a fund will be set up to provide insurance cover and medical treatment for journalists."

July 7, 2006 -- According to the Auto Channel, "Oxygen S.p.A., a provider of electric transporters, has placed orders for the new U-Charge(R) XP battery systems, based on Saphion(R) lithium-ion technology, from Valence Technology, Inc. . The Italian company selected Valence batteries to power a new line of electric scooters designed for delivery fleets across Europe. Oxygen's initial fleet deployment will start this summer with a major European Postal Service. Saphion technology is the industry's first commercially available, safe, large-format lithium-ion rechargeable battery technology."

July 7, 2006 -- According to Thanh Nien News, "Postal officials are seemingly queuing up for arrest on embezzlement charges in Vietnam, as police nabbed three officials from the central region Thursday, with another trio detained two days earlier. The six stand accused of colluding with the same supplier to embezzle nearly US$1 million from inflating equipment prices and misappropriating the balance."

July 7, 2006 -- WhatTheyThink has reported that "The Electronic Document Systems Foundation (EDSF) announced the publication of an insightful co-branded research paper that examines key issues and trends in the document communications industry. Based on the findings, organizations may want to re-examine their current document communications strategies and adjust for increasing complexity in both technology and management. The study found, for example, that electronic documents may not reduce print volumes and postage costs. "Document Communications - Industry Trends: 2006 Survey Results" is a collaboration between Doculabs, a Chicago-based technology consulting firm, and the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Research in Information Management (CRIM)."

July 7, 2006 -- From the UPU: "Government officials, regulatory authorities, postal operators, postal sector decision-makers, and representatives from the private sector and international organizations gathered at the headquarters of the worldwide postal organization to discuss and present organizational models for the postal markets – a challenge which many countries will face over the next few years."

July 7, 2006 -- From the Federal Register: "To better serve its customers, the Postal Service is implementing new procedures in the provision of temporary forwarding of mail. These new procedures are intended to improve mail deliverability to our customers, ensure that mail is delivered to the addressee as quickly as possible, and reduce the volume of mail forwarded unnecessarily."

July 7, 2006 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that:

• DHL has announced the creation of its new office of Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Management for DHL in the Americas.
• US logistics company Forward Air, Inc. has announced a three-year partnership with DHL Global Forwarding. Under the terms of their agreement, Forward Air, Inc. will be the primary provider of DHL Global Forwarding's expedited ground transportation services.

July 6, 2006 -- The National Association of Postal Mail Handlers has told its members that "In an ill-advised move, on the eve of collective bargaining, the USPS has notified the NPMHU National Office of its plans to consider the outsourcing of the tender and receipt of mail at 43 air mail centers."

July 6, 2006 -- In its most recent DMM Advisory, the U.S. Postal Service noted that it has "updated and redesigned its Web page at usps.com/ratecase to add summaries and frequently asked questions for all classes of mail."

July 6, 2006 -- As the Associated Press has noted, it's a done deal. "Marketing company Valassis Communications Inc. is buying Advo Inc., the nation's largest direct-mail marketer, for $1.2 billion. Advo shares soared 48 percent during trading to a 52-week high, while Valassis shares plummeted as much as 19 percent to a 52-week low during the session."

July 6, 2006 -- The U.S. Postal Service has filed with the Postal Rate Commission a request "to change from 50 percent to 70 percent the reduction in subscription price that would constitute a nominal rate."

July 6, 2006 -- The BBC has reported that "Private equity firm Candover is set to buy two private mail operators as it seeks to exploit growth in the postal industry after its deregulation. It has tabled an offer to buy DX Services, which delivers next-day mail to 17,000 UK businesses, for £348.7m. Should shareholders approve the deal, it then plans to buy Secure Mail Services (SMS), which delivers valuable documents to residential addresses. The combined business would handle more than 270 million items of mail a year." See also The Times.

July 6, 2006 -- The Evening Times has reported that "GLASGOW has been chosen to help spearhead a postal revolution. Scotland's biggest city will trial the first privatised postal service which will signal the beginning of the end of Royal Mail's dominance of letter deliveries. TNT, a global provider of mail, express and logistics services, has chosen Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester for the collection, sorting and delivery of private mail. It's the first time a private operator has offered such a comprehensive service."

July 6, 2006 -- From the PR Newswire: "Quad/Graphics announces it has purchased a majority interest in Openfirst, a leading direct mail communications provider."

July 6, 2006 -- Government News Network has reported that "Jim Fitzpatrick, Minister for Postal Services, today announced the appointment of Professor Stephen Littlechild and Simon Prior-Palmer to the Postal Services Commission, Postcomm. These three-year appointments, starting 1 July 2006, will be to replace Janet Lewis-Jones and Robin Aaronson whose terms of office with the Commission end in October and November respectively."

July 6, 2006 -- Gulf Times has reported that "Postal corporations in Arab countries were told to explore possibilities for enhancing direct marketing of their products to survive the challenges of the time, a Q-Post official said. Speaking to Gulf Times on the outcome of the recent meeting of Arab postal corporations in the Moroccan capital of Rabat, Q-Post’s director of commercial and financial affairs, Ali Jassim al-Kubaisi, said the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the supreme body of postal corporations, had instructed postal corporations in the region to enhance capabilities in direct marketing of their products in a big way."

July 6, 2006 -- ThisIsMoney has reported that "A NEW threat to Royal Mail emerged today after a deal was announced to merge two firms responsible for handling 270m items of mail a year. European buy-out specialist Candover will pay £349m for DX Services, which is a document handling specialist, and offer an undisclosed sum for Secure Mail Services, which delivers valuable items such as credit cards." See also Reuters.

July 6, 2006 -- As the Washington Post has noted, "Winning the award for the best telecommuting program was the U.S. Postal Service's Office of Inspector General, which employs more than 300 people at its headquarters in Arlington."

July 6, 2006 -- The Wall Street Journal has reported that "Marketing company Valassis Communications Inc. is in advanced negotiations to purchase Advo Inc., for at least $1.1 billion, in a deal that would unite two stalwarts of the direct-marketing and advertising business, according to people familiar with the matter." See PR Newswire.

July 5, 2006 -- According to Graphic Arts Monthly, "U.S. direct mail spending is forecast to rise 8% this year to $59.6 billion, according to Robert J. Coen, senior VP and director of forecasting with Universal McCann. In his June 2006 Insider's Report, Coen said national direct mail spending grew 6.7% percent in Q1 as marketers sought alternatives to their former telemarketing programs."

July 5, 2006 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:

TNTs sale of its logistics division is going ahead according to schedule. In an interview with the "International Freighting Weekly" Marie-Christine Lombard, head of the express division, confirmed that the transaction would be completed during this year's second half. Ms Lombard denied rumours claiming that the entire company was to be sold off: "We are not for sale."
Switzerland's regulatory authority has renewed its criticism of the post's accounting practice.
Singapore's SingPost remained the world's most profitable post company in 2005/2006.
Social conflict is obviously one result of the introduction by Belgium's La Poste of G oroute, a software designed to optimise delivery routes.
In Britain, the walk sequence sorting issue supplies additional fuel to the discord between the post and the postal workers' union.
CityMail opened its new Danish headquarters on 1 July.
FedEx has recently entered into co-operation with Geodis in France. A subsidiary of the French national railway company, Geodis will take over collection and distribution of consignments in areas, which are not covered by FedEx.
Is DHL on the up in Germany? In response to persistent rumours about DHL losses in the German parcel market, DHL Deutschland spokesman Claus Korfmacher told the CEP News: "The trend has been stopped." A large part of the consignment volumes had been regained, but Mr Korfmacher declined to mention figures.
Over the last five years, the number of domestic express consignments handled by Sweden's Posten AB has almost tripled. Demand for rapid parcel services is also growing.
Chronopost intends to focus more on road transport in future. According to the French daily "Le Monde" (23.06), La Poste's express subsidiary is setting up a new parcel dispatch system.
Korea Express, one of the country's leading CEP operators (2003 turnover: 908m euros, net profit: 32.4m euros) has set up a subsidiary company in Japan.
According to a report in the German daily "Die Welt" (30.06), TNT intends to offer parcel delivery to private addresses in some European countries. TNT wants to benefit from Internet trading and deliver parcels to private customers, while at the same time improving the use of its express and mail network capacity.
Germany's Hermes Logistik Gruppe is obviously serious about playing on the international parcel market. In an interview with the daily "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung"" (04.07), managing director Hanjo Schneider announced the launch of the "Europe Parcel" in Germany in September. Reasonable prices would promote the debut on the European market.
Baltic Logistics System (BLS), a subsidiary of the French GeoPost group operating in the Baltic States.

The MRU, founded in 1992, is the only consultancy in Europe, which has specialised in the market of courier-, express- and parcel services. For large-scale shippers and CEP-services in particular, the MRU provides interdisciplinary advice for all major questions of the market, as there are for example market entry, product design, organisation, and EDP.To learn more about the stories reported above, contact CEP News.

July 5, 2006 -- Macauhub has reported that "Correios de Portugal, the Portuguese state postal company, is looking for a partner in Angola to implement its Payshop service, which makes it possible to pay bills in stores. Speaking to Portuguese financial daily, Jornal de Negócios in Lisbon, CTT’s financial director said that the company was available to take a stake in Angola’s Payshop, but that its main interest was to export the service and the technology, which has been well-received in Portugal."

July 5, 2006 -- According to Computer Weekly, "China Post is using RFID (radio frequency identification) systems from Symbol to track express mail bags in the Shanghai commercial area. The deployment by Shanghai Post Express Mail Service is being used to increase productivity and speed delivery of items."

July 5, 2006 -- The Communication Workers Union has told its members that "The Union's negotiating team has made a full report to the Postal Executive today on the current situation. Progress has been made on negotiations and as a result the Notice for Industrial Action has not been issued to the employer. The rationale for this decision is to allow for further talks to conclude an agreement this week. A fresh offer has been made on pay and progress has been made on the other issues including how Royal Mail and CWU will deal with the future of the business. The improvements that have been made are as a result of the success of our campaign and negotiations are due to continue tomorrow."

July 5, 2006 -- The Financial Times has reported that "DX Services saw its shares jump sharply after the struggling mail services provider confirmed it had received a tentative approach at 415p per share. The announcement came just before the market closed and followed speculation towards the end of last week that the company was being stalked by a private equity group."

July 5, 2006 -- According to the Philadelphia Daily News, "WHEN THE Pennsylvania Democratic Party wanted to help state Rep. Cherelle Parker in a special election last September, it made a mistake: It relied on the Postal Service in Philadelphia to deliver an 1,800- piece campaign mailing."

July 5, 2006 -- ZeeNews has reported that "The government today exempted from service tax postal services like money orders, savings accounts and postal orders. The Department of Posts is not considered as a service provider similar to a bank or a financial institution and therefore such services provided by the DoP are not liable for service tax, a Finance Ministry release said."

July 5, 2006 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that:

• Deutsche Post World Net, owner of DHL, has published its ‘Sustainability Report 2006’, a large document outlining a variety of policies that DPWN believes mitigate its impact on the environment and demonstrates its positive contribution to the world at large.
• DHL has announced that it has expanded its Time Definite Delivery (TDD) product offering to more destinations throughout Asia Pacific to include Worldwide Parcel Express (WPX) shipments with customs value and commodity restrictions. In addition, DHL will also be introducing a TDD Import Express (IMP) service for intra-Asia and Asia Pacific to Europe shipments.

July 5, 2006 -- From the PR Newswire: "The U.S. Postal Service is equipping its business customers with the latest tools to help them succeed in the complex world of international trade. Global Business Connect Kits containing information about the Postal Service's international delivery offerings are being made available free to customers from 28,000 Post Offices nationwide. The kits, designed to present shipping solutions to business mailers, give details on the Postal Service's four international shipping options—Global Express Guaranteed, Global Express Mail, Global Priority Mail, and Global Air Parcel Post—focusing primarily on their transit times and reasonable prices."

July 4, 2006 -- The Bangkok Post has reported that "Consolidation in the logistics industry also extends to postal services, which face a decline in standard mail as more people pay bills online and send e-mails instead of letters."

July 4, 2006 -- According to Business World, "The Communications Workers' Union is to recommend acceptance of the new national partnership agreement, Towards 2016, to its 20,000 members. Following a meeting of the union's national executive in Dublin earlier today, CWU general secretary Steve Fitzpatrick announced that the decision of the ruling committee was to recommend acceptance of the agreement."

July 4, 2006 -- Asian Age has reported that "In order to maximise revenue, the Indian Postal Department has decided to collect speed post packages and letters directly from the house without charging anything extra. Anand Prakash, an official of the postal department, says that they have taken the decision to address the threat private courier companies are posing to its revenues."

July 4, 2006 -- BuaNews has reported that "The Department of Communications is consulting stakeholders in the postal and related sectors to inform them about the drafting of the (South African) Postal Services Amendment Bill."

July 4, 2006 -- Reuters has reported that "Package delivery company United Parcel Service Inc.'s recent decision not to block union attempts to organize its nonunion trucking unit is a gamble analysts said may improve its position in labor contract talks due to start soon. Analysts said the decision could lead to unionization of less-than truckload (LTL) unit UPS Freight with its 17,000 employees, but added that might not be a bad thing."

July 3, 2006 -- PostInsight has reported that:

ARCEP, the French postal and telecoms regulator published today its annual report for 2005. This is the first report since ARCEP started its activities as postal regulator.
Deutsche Post AG is redeeming the three-year exchangeable bonds it issued in 2004, by allowing bondholders to exchange them for Deutsche Postbank AG shares one year before the issue matures in July 2007. By calling the exchangeable bond before maturity, Deutsche Post will be able to cut its net financial debt by around 1 bln eur this year.
CORREOS, the Spanish postal service, has included the Internet payment company, PayPal as one of its online payment systems.
CORREOS has signed its 2nd Collective Agreement, which includes an average salary increase for the 2005-2008 period of 18 percent. That is, a salary hike beyond the collective bargaining in Spain.
See also the article by Sarah Chambers, chief executive of Postcomm (U.K.) on "the peculiarities of postal regulation."

July 3, 2006 -- According to the Belfast Telegraph, "It is less than two months until Royal Mail introduces a fairer and entirely new way of charging customers for postal services. Pricing in Proportion - or PiP for shorthand - goes live on August 21 and we are urging businesses across Northern Ireland, no matter what their size, to start looking at the detail of the changes and to focus on what Pricing in Proportion will mean for them. One of the key messages we want to get across is that businesses needn't be concerned that the move will necessarily result in an overall increase in postage costs."

July 3, 2006 -- The Lawyer has reported that "Royal Mail has transformed its in-house legal team, scooping former Exel legal chief Doug Evans to replace longstanding general counsel Catherine Churchard. Churchard has handed in her resignation and will formally leave the post later this year. Evans has already started at Royal Mail and will work alongside Churchard for the time being. The move comes at a turbulent time for Royal Mail, which is trying to stave off strike action over a 2.9 per cent pay increase to its 200,000 staff."

July 3, 2006 -- Press Release: "Window Book, Inc., the leader in postal mailing and shipping software announced a new 2007 Rate Analysis Service to assist mailers in order to be fully prepared for the upcoming postal rate changes. This service utilizes Mail.dat® files for analysis, calculates the new rates where possible, and provides the mailers with a comparison. It is designed to assist the mailers with the information they need to enable them to improve management of their postage funds in preparation for the new rates."

July 3, 2006 -- The DM Bulletin has reported that "The Postal Users Group, an alliance of European business mailers, has called for European Commission proposals on postal regulation to take the needs of data and direct mail services companies into account. The PUG is an alliance of 15 European associations including Fedma and the European Marketing Confederation. It has issued a manifesto on the main interests of businesses using postal services in an attempt to influence the future of EU postal policy."

July 3, 2006 -- The Herald-Mail has reported that "When Williamsport Postmaster Mike Suder was trying to think of who could design a pictorial cancellation for the town's Fourth of July celebration, he remembered the hand-drawn artwork with which postal customer Ralph DeVore decorates his envelopes and packages. DeVore, who lives in Williamsport, agreed to take on the project and donated his time. The retired parade float designer/builder came up with a design that combines the major elements of the hometown celebration - the band shell and people gazing at the sky lit up with fireworks. Each pictorial cancellation must include a station name. Because the stamped and canceled envelopes will be sold in the park, the name Park Station was chosen."

July 3, 2006 -- Gulf Times has reported that "Q-Post held a seminar at the head post office in West Bay yesterday to explain the standards adopted in postal addressing and the latest sorting machines acquired by the department. Representatives of 31 different organisations, including banks and business houses, attended the event."

July 3, 2006 -- The BBC has reported that "Some Royal Mail postal managers are reaching breaking point due to increasing work loads and staff shortages, a union has warned. Amicus called for an urgent meeting with the postal group's chairman Alan Leighton over what it calls a crisis. Amicus, the biggest private sector union, says it deals daily with cases of Royal Mail managers suffering stress and working long hours. But Royal Mail said a recent survey showed 86% of its managers were happy." See also InTheNews.

July 3, 2006 -- The Anchorage Daily News has reported that "A Hawaiian entrepreneur is bringing to Alaska a service aimed at individuals and businesses frustrated with the high cost of mail-order shipments from the Lower 48. Andrew Riehmann, a computer engineer by profession, hatched his first business, called Ship to Hawaii, in late 2004 after being frustrated for years by the high cost of shipping merchandise to the islands from the mainland. This month, he's starting a sister service, Ship to Alaska, that is built on the same business model."

July 3, 2006 -- As noted in DM News, "One of the biggest developments in parcel shipping over the past decade is the increased use of consolidators. Consolidators compete against standard UPS and FedEx ground services by using a special rate from USPS called Parcel Select. The consolidators sort and drive the parcels to USPS Bulk Mail Centers (BMCs), Sectional Centers (SCFs) and even local post offices (referred to as Destination Delivery Units or DDUs). Delivery times normally increase by a few days over UPS ground, but Parcel Select rates are very low so even with the consolidator’s fees added on, the savings can be 30 percent less than standard UPS rates."

July 3, 2006 -- From the U.S. Postal Service: "Ten energy conservation contracts, with an estimated value of $1.3 billion, were awarded recently to six companies that will receive a percentage or “share” of the dollar savings attributable to the projects, in return for assuming all implementation costs. These contracts, which were issued under the Postal Service’s Shared Energy Savings (SES) program, will help the Postal Service avoid an average of $11 million a year in energy costs over 10 years—or a total of $110 million."

July 3, 2006 -- From over the transom: A memorandum from U.S. Postal Service Sales Vice President Jerry Whalen on changes that will be made to the sales organization.

July 3, 2006 -- The courier market is still underdeveloped and offers many growth opportunities, stated Adrian Mihai, general manager of Fan Courier Express, during the "How to make more profit" seminar organised by ZIARUL FINANCIAR.

July 1, 2006 -- According to Multichannel Merchant, "Along with death and taxes, multichannel merchants can count on rising transportation costs. The chief culprit for increasing costs is fuel, which affects your transportation costs on incoming shipments from your vendors and outgoing packages to your customers. But while its fuel prices that have dominated the headlines, they aren't the only reason transportation costs are high. And while you don't have much control over fuel costs, you can take control of some of the other expenses."

July 1, 2006 -- Mailers Council executive director Robert McLean has reported that "Azeez Jaffer, the USPS' vice president for Public Affairs and Communications has left the Postal Service. The reasons for his unexpected and sudden departure are unclear. Jon Leonard, who recently became the PMG's leading speech writer, was named acting vice president for Public Affairs and Communications."

July 1, 2006 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• The U.S. Postal Service has awarded a contract to United Parcel Service for domestic air transportation of First-Class and Priority mail to and from 98 American cities. The three-year contract is effective July 1 with the potential to be extended. UPS currently provides the Postal Service with mail transportation to and from 16 U. S. cities.
• Federal Times reporter Dan Davidson looks at the current volume of work outsourced to vendors by the USPS, and talks with industry observers who say the Postal Service will have to do more if it plans to improve efficiency and remain competitive.
• Chris Lien of Business Objects shares his views on how to accept PMG Jack Potter’s challenge to reduce UAA mail 50 percent by 2010 by preparing now for the approaching CASS cycle L, which takes effect Aug. 1, 2007.
• The U.S. Postal Service issued this Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) Advisory on Pricing and Classification June 29. It is intended to answer some of the questions about the details of its pricing proposal.
• In this perspective, direct marketing consultant Cary Baer questions whether some elements of the Postal Service’s recently filed rate case, especially the volume forecasts, are realistic.
• ‘All stick and no carrot’: Unions unhappy over Senate pay-for-performance bill. DHL tops UPS, FedEx in school’s delivery test. Fuel surcharges protect FedEx’s profit. Akerman Senterfitt to acquire Wickwire Gavin. New website claims to ‘fix’ your mail.
• Canada Post to raise rates in January. CWU rejects Royal Mail offer, schedules strike vote. Reloadable credit cards gaining popularity. High speed cargo rail plans go forward. TNT, Japan Post joint venture perishes. Germans institute just-in-time military logistics. Connell to head Ireland’s An Post. Deutsche Post might end financial services at agencies. Deutsche post loses post box rate case.
• A list of upcoming postal-related events.

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July 1, 2006 -- The federal court for the Northern District of California denied Douglas Carlson's motion for summary judgment, granted the USPS'  motion for summary judgment, and denied Carlson's request for injunctive reief. [1] [2]

July 1, 2006 -- The Independent Pilots Association (IPA) and UPS Airlines have announced a tentative agreement on a new labor contract. The agreement provides for wage and pension improvements and a variety of changes to work rules. It also enables the company to reward its pilots in a responsible manner, maintaining the flexibility needed to serve customers and expand the business while remaining competitive.

July 1, 2006 -- Air Cargo World has reported that "Mail volume carried through Los Angeles International Airport declined 39.5 percent in May."